The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922) is a children's fantasy novel by
Hugh Lofting. The novel is the second in a series of fifteen books
featuring Doctor Dolittle, a character created by Lofting in letters
written to his wife and children at home while he served in the Great
War. Beloved by generations of adults and children for their imaginative
nature and moral worldview, Lofting's books have inspired numerous
adaptations for theater, film, and television.
Doctor John Dolittle is an ordinary physician with an extraordinary
gift. When Tommy Stubbins finds a badly injured squirrel, he goes around
town asking for help. Told to pay a visit to the Doctor, he arrives at
his clinic he discovers a strange world of wild and exotic animals. When
Doctor Dolittle arrives home from a journey, he heals the squirrel and
welcomes Tommy to stay. Now a student of Dolittle, Tommy learns from
Polynesia the parrot how to communicate with all animals, and befriends
the Wiff-Waff fish, Dab-Dab the duck, and others. When a Purple Bird of
paradise arrives at the clinic with news that a friend of the Doctor's
has gone missing on Spider Monkey Island, the group embarks on a voyage
across the world. On their way to the coast of South America, they make
a stop in Spain where the Doctor competes with local matadors to end the
tradition of bullfighting. After a shipwreck strands Tommy alone, he
must enlist the help of a pod of porpoises to make it to Spider Monkey
Island, where he will hopefully find his friends. Featuring war between
the Bagjagderags and the Popsipetels, as well as a magical creature
known as the Great Glass Sea Snail, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle is
a delightful work of fantasy for children and adults alike.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript,
this edition of Hugh Lofting's The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle is a
classic of English children's fiction reimagined for modern readers.
