Customer Reviews

The Story Of Doctor Dolittle (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am a huge fan of the original Hugh Lofting Dr. Dolittle and not this shallow abridged version. A good part of the story is cut and the history is mutilated. The illustrations are obviously not complete Hugh Loftings even though they still bear his name. Many of his illustrations have been cut and pasted blending them with some weird Victorian style prints. The result is a jumbled mishmash. As a kid, I'm offended that they would take a wonderful piece of literature and trample it with political correctness jargon. There are things said in the original version that I understand would not be appropriate today. But it was a part or our history. And it gives a great opportunity for discussions with parents. As for this story, what is left? The character depth is ruined. The vocabulary is rudimentary. Utter trash. Don't waste your time. Original unabridged or nothing.

I grew up with Hugh Lofting's books and wanted my children to read them. As Dr. Dolittle learns to communicate with animals, we begin to think about feelings and habits of individuals very different from ourselves.

Dr. Dolittle did not fit in with many of the stuffier aspects of British society. Thus, he was a miserable failure as a human doctor. His animals recognized his caring spirit and taught him to become an outstanding animal doctor. The stories contain suspense and adventure but there is little explicit violence. The animal characters, Jip the dog, Gub Gub the pig, Polinesia the parrot each have their own personalities and become friends with the reader.

Hugh Lofting was an Englishman of the early 20th century. As such, he used some troubling phrases that might be considered racist. Much of this seems to have been deleted or modified in the current version of this book.

I wanted my children to read all of the other Dr. Dolittle books. Unfortunately most of them are out of print. Thank goodness,I was able to find a number of the other titles in the Amazon.com used book section.

Dr. Dolittle is definitely a must-read for people of all ages, for children and for those who are young-at-heart. It is the story of a generous old man who seems capable of doing anything! All he wants to do is help, and he doesn't care if he loses all his money just to save monkeys in Africa from an epidemic. But the best thing about Dr. Dolittle is that he can talk to animals -- and this is probably every child's dream. And so read this when you're very young, read this to your children, and read this when you've forgotten what it is to be a kid. Because the quaint British way in which the story is told will keep you amused, while the crazy adventures of Dr. Dolittle and his conversations with his animal friends will keep your imagination rolling!

Dr. Dolittle has fallen afoul of the PC police, well before they were so named. This edition is heavily adulterated to maintain political correctness. Unfortunately, you must read the afterword to understand this. A great story, a bad edition.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle
By: Hugh Lofting
Reviewed by: R Bhatt
Period 6

This book is about the life of an ordinary doctor named John Dolittle. He is a doctor for people but later on becomes one for animals. Dr. Dolittle possesses one unusual gift. It is the ability to talk to animals. He helps many different animals. He journeys to Africa to treat a sickness that is killing many monkeys. There he has many adventures.
I really liked this book because it is all make believe and adventure. I really like adventure books. They are very exciting to read. They never let you get bored reading them. It is also funny in some parts of the story too. This makes you not want to stop.
I also like the characters. They come to life in this book. They also become a part of you when you are reading. My favorite character was Jip the dog. He was a main character and sometimes he is really funny. I also like Polynesia the parrot because she helps the doctor many times in the book.
My favorite part is when the Barbary pirates are stuck on the old sinking ship. That part is really funny and exciting to read. Ben Ali the leader wants to kill Dr. Dolittle but doesn't succeed. He and his pirates have to become birdseed farmers on the Canary island. This I like this part because the animals help doctor Dolittle out. They are very nice to him because he is their friend.

Dr. Doolittle fell afoul of the PC police, before they were so named. This edition has been adulterated to maintain political correctness and there is no indication of this unless you read the afterword. Great story, bad edition.

It was so neat how Dr. Doolittle was able to talk to animals! The push-me pull-yu is very funny because it has 2 heads. I loved the way the doctor figured out how to help all the monkeys! It was also cool how the animals helped the doctor too - like when Jip the dog helped figure out where the boy's uncle was.

I can't wait to read the next book (VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOOLITTLE) and see the movie. I've only seen the one with Eddie Murphy so far and this is different!

(My mom loved reading this book with me too and she wants me to say that it's also lots of fun for grownups!)

Doctor Dolittle was a human doctor once. But he liked animals very much. Then when his pets grew many, people didn't like them and didn't visit him. But one of his pets taught him animal languages when he had almost no money. Then he decided he became an animal doctor.
This was the beginning of the adventure of Doctor Dolittle.

This book was written with simple words and simple sentences. Then I could read this book faster than usual.
Hugh Lofting wrote this story in the letter to his children for amusing them during World War One. After that this became this book, the first story of Dr. Dolittle. Finaly eight Doctor Dolittle books came out and the second book got the Newbery Medal. He was born in England. And he studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT.

At first I had start to read e-Book of this. And the introduction of the book said the illustrations in the book also written by author. Then I decided buying a paperback of this because the e-Book doesn't have pictures.
This is a good book. It's easy to understand as I already said. I strongly recommend reading this book.

Happy Reading!

This is my favorite book from my childhood. I checked it out from the school library so many times that my grandmother bought the book from the library, and the library ordered another copy for their shelves. I love animals, and I love Doctor Dolittle. If more people in the world understood and respected animals, we might have a chance of survival. The original movie with Rex Harrison as Dr. Dolittle, and wonderful songs by Anthony Newley remains enchanting to this day. I hate the way the story was distorted and cheapened by the Eddie Murphy movie versions. Children need to become acquainted with the real Doctor Dolittle!

In great condition--read it to the kids a couple of times each year. Even my older ones loves it.