The Story of Doctor Dolittle Paperback – January 7, 2020

Oh my goo'ness! Oh my goo'ness! I have to revert to little Shirley Temple's trademark expression in order to describe how I feel about this rewritten edition of the classic story. I had wondered how today's children might feel about Prince Bumpo's wish to change himself, and the authors found a perfectly believable substitute, suitable for small children. Born in 1938, I grew up with the very non-politically correct original: by the 1960s my childrens' copy of the book had already been bowdlerized, making Bumpo's story more acceptable. The current changes in the story are perfectly acceptable.But what thrills me are Michael Hague's illustrations. Lofting's primitive B&W pen sketches have their charm, but even they are racist in depicting the Africans. Hague's are largely in color and in full-page format, with a great deal of detail. They add enormously to the story.Books of Wonder (William Morrow and Company) have published a number of children's books, both well-known and obscure. They're to be thanked for treating the stories with respect, providing a beautiful format.

We read this with our 5 year old. We loved the photos and the vocabulary was a good challenge for her. She learned a lot from this book.

The original Dr Doolittle from 1920 is highly original and somewhat racist. Depends on what you like, but I enjoyed it. Would not buy it for children or people sensitive about these issues.

We were preparing to go on a long road trip and I was determined the kids were going to see the natural beauty of the various states and also read along the way. I did not want their noses buried in handheld video games, movies, etc. For each child I thought back to my favorites at their age and ordered a couple of new books for each of them. My daughter (9) is an avid animal lover (she cried when her balloon animal died) but NOT an avid reader. She reads only the assigned number of minutes so "The Story of Dr. Dolittle" was an obvious choice. She had seen the recent movies but I wanted her to know where the movies came from. The respect shown towards creatures of all kinds is a value I would like to see in every human being. To say that she loved it would be an understatement. She read it entirely on the drive there. Because I had read it such a long time ago, I had her share with me to remind me of some of the details I had forgotten. She then decided to read it again on the trip home "in case she had missed anything". My jaw dropped! Never has she re-read anything! She took more time reading it the second time and I have heard her make references to it with her friends.I highly recommend it for any animal loving person whether they like to read or not. It will draw you in right away and keep you wanting to read "just til the end of the chapter"!

Got this book as a gift for a family close to me with children aged 12, 9 and 7. While it was really bought for the 7 yr old, this has proven to be a hit with the entire family and story reading time before bed sees all huddling in one space to hear the next chapter.While the story in itself is good, what sets this particular publication apart are the illustrations. These are in fine detail and colour to catch the imaginations of the reader. Add creative voices to the narration and your audience will be a captive one.Highly recommended.

This is for children, of course. Lofting writes the most delightful stories and brings to life his wonderful little animal friends who have their own personalities. Dab-dab, the duck is the first one we meet, I think. I remember Cheapside, a cockney sparrow, too. The stories' chief character is a little boy who becomes friends with Dr. Dolittle and has many adventures, including on a ship to an uncharted island. If you have kids, 4-7 years old and you like to read to them. This is your ticket. There's a whole series, maybe 4 books in all. I had them all when my boys were growing up and I cherish those hours reading these stories to them. I bought this one for my step-grandson who was in third grade at the time.

Un libro di lettura in lingua inglese consigliato a mio nipote dall'insegnante di inglese

My daughter love it

J’ai acheté ce livre voulant recommencer à lire en anglais après de longues années.Ce livre est parfait - à mon avis - pour reprendre doucement quand on n’a pas pratiqué depuis très longtemps et l’histoire est très plaisante et divertissante.Merci

Excellent

This is a must have in anyone's library. A true classic & a delightful story of the man that can talk to the animals. Original print versions now rather un-pc..., particularly the sequels, but written of their time . Yes there is more than one Dr Dolittle book. Go seek them out. All incredible reads.