The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting
Finished reading this book aloud to my children today and we are in love with the characters in this series and can’t wait to read more!
This is the 2nd in the 1920s Dr. Dolittle series, but the first we’ve read. My 9.5yr old was enthralled with the British Doctor who can speak to animals. The doctor isn’t magic, he simply learns the languages of all the animals– an intriguing concept! 🙂
The version of this book we read was revised a little to remove racist content. Supposedly they only tweaked just a tiny bit and they explain this in the first part of the book. I haven’t yet seen the original edition so I cannot say for sure how much was changed. Normally I wouldn’t choose a revised copy of a classic but this was what I stumbled upon on the library shelves and I was ok with the idea of taking out racist content.
I really like reading old books like this to my children, as it exposes them to language they might not otherwise be exposed to. There are times even I don’t know what a word means, but that just makes it educational for even me! 🙂
The story of this book chronicles the adventures of Dr. Dolittle, animal doctor extraordinaire as he travels abroad on many adventures with his dog, monkey, parrot, friend (who happens to be an African prince), and new sidekick/charge, a 12 year old boy who’s parents agree to let him help the good doctor in exchange for a bit of homeschooling. That’s essentially what is happening, even if its not called “homeschooling.”
I will have to edit this review later to reflect how this book compares to the others in the series…we just received today 2 more of the Dr. Dolittle books from the library and I’m eager to read more of this quirky little jolly Englishman.
