Discover Well-Read Black Girl Books and the projects reshaping publishing →

Book Summary and Reviews of The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting

The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting

The Story of Doctor Dolittle

by Hugh Lofting

  • Published:
  • May 1988, 176 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Dolittle is soon to be a major motion picture from Universal Pictures, starring Robert Downey Jr. and featuring the voice talents of Emma Thompson, Tom Holland, Selena Gomez, and John Cena!

Meet the character who inspired the classic books in Dr. Dolitte's first grand adventure!

Doctor Dolittle is one of a kind. Not only can he talk to animals—but he can understand them too! One day Doctor Dolittle receives a message from Africa—the monkeys there need his help. So he sails off from his home, bringing along all his pals: Dab-Dab, the duck; Jip, the dog; Gub-Gub, the baby pig; Polynesia, the parrot; and Too-Too, the owl. Join the doctor and his animal friends on an amazing adventures. They even meet the rarest of all animals, the two-headed pushmi-pullyu!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Any child who is not given the opportunity to make the acquaintance of this rotund, kindly, and enthusiastic doctor/naturalist and all of his animal friends will miss out on something important." —Jane Goodall

This information about The Story of Doctor Dolittle was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Click here and be the first to review this book!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Hugh Lofting

Hugh Lofting was born in 1886 in Maidenhead, Berkshire. His Doctor Dolittle books first appeared on paper in the form of letters to his children, Elizabeth and Colin. Lofting wrote a number of children's books besides the Dolittle series, including The Story of Mrs. Tubbs (1923), Tommy, Tilly and Mrs. Tubbs (1936), Porridge Poetry (1924), The Twilight of Magic (1930), and Gub Gub's Book (1932). Lofting also wrote one book for adults, Victory for the Slain (1942). He died in 1947 in Santa Monica, California.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked The Story of Doctor Dolittle, try these:

  • Night of the Animals jacket

    Night of the Animals

    by Bill Broun

    Published 2017

    About this book

    In this imaginative debut, the tale of Noah's Ark is brilliantly recast as a story of fate and family, set in a near-future London.

  • The Last Unicorn jacket

    The Last Unicorn

    by William deBuys

    Published 2015

    About this book

    An award-winning author's stirring quest to find and understand an elusive and exceptionally rare species in the heart of Southeast Asia's jungles.

  • Animal Wise jacket

    Animal Wise

    by Virginia Morell

    Published 2014

    About this book

    Noted science writer Virginia Morell explores the frontiers of research on animal cognition and emotion, offering a surprising and moving exploration into the hearts and minds of wild and domesticated animals.

We have 10 read-alikes for The Story of Doctor Dolittle, but non-members are limited to three results. Join free to see the complete list of recommendations.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

More Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History

Browse all Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History books

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
When No One Else Will
by Amanda Skenandore
1940s Chicago nurse risks everything at an illegal women’s clinic during a high-profile trial of courage and sisterhood.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    Look What You Made Me Do
    by John Lanchester
    A propulsive tale of intergenerational tension and revenge from the Booker Prize nominee.
  • Book Jacket
    Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young
    by Zayd Ayers Dohrn
    Son of Weather Underground radicals recounts life on the run and decades of revolutionary struggle.
  • Book Jacket
    The Jellyfish Problem
    by Tessa Yang
    A marine biologist rescues a Maine island menaced by a giant glowing jellyfish in this inventive debut.
Who Said...

The worst thing about reading new books...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

Q S, S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.