Hugh Lofting Books

The Voyages Of Dr. Doolittle is a great book for any age group. It is a wonderful class read-aloud, and the vibrant choice of words is awesome for promoting a large vocabulary. The main plot is about a boy, who travells with Dr. Doolittle for two years, to a floating island, wich is always around the coast of brazil. Dr. Doolittle is made to stay against his will, as a king of the indian people living there. Dr. Doolittle stumbled upon this island trying to find out more about the shellfish language, and meets the giant snail, who gives him a ride back to england in the snails Mother-of-Pearl shell. So Dr. Doolittle and the boy travel back on the snails back, and sees the ocean from below the water, and all the while, Dr. Doolittle id adding the shellfish language to his vast knowledge of the animal's language.

This book is definatly a great book to read. It is the adventures of a little boy and a doctor who knows how to speak animal languages. They go on an adventure and run into problems on the way. This book is definatly a great read.

Dr. Dolittle takes care of animals and a boy found a hurt squirrel. He takes it to him and then they go out on a adventure. They go onto a floating island. They get attacked and then they defeated with some other people. They went back home and the boy's parents let him get teached by Dr. Dolittle for a few years and go on some more adventures.

The movie musical version of "Doctor Dolittle" was on cable this weekend, and after cringing a bit at Rex Harrison's portrayal of the Doctor (about as faithful to the book as Julie Andrews was to P.L. Travers's original Mary Poppins), I pulled down several of my Hugh Lofting classics to remember why I loved these books so much. You probably know the general story: the adventures of an English animal doctor who learns the language of the animals. All of these books are great (start with "The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle" or "The Story of Doctor Dolittle") but "Doctor Dolittle in the Moon" was always my favorite as a kid, and I'm please to say it holds up extraordinarily well reading it in my late thirties! The adventure is continued in part from the previous book, "Doctor Dolittle's Garden," but you don't have to read that book at all to get right into the action: the good doctor is already on his way to the moon, on the back of a giant moth (it's not as silly as it sounds), along with faithful companions the parrot Polynesia and the monkey Chim-Chim--plus a stowaway, the Doctor's protégé and apprentice, Tommy Stubbins. They discover on the moon's dark side a fantastic world of giant--and talking--plants, weird creatures, and the mythical, millenniums-old Man in the Moon. I'm not *at all* doing justice to this--the setting is moody, spooky, even a little chilling, and always exciting--in my mind, no juvenile author has portrayed an alien world so well until Eleanor Cameron's "Mushroom Planet" books. It astonishes me how far ahead of his time Lofting was; I had to glance at the copyright page and actually check that it was published in 1928. I don't mean that he was prescient in what the moon is actually like (Lofting's moon is a weird but lush, living landscape), but his themes and ideas in this book were far beyond most of the books I read as a kid, and must have been revolutionary for juvenile lit in 1928: the ideas of evolution, the extraordinarily precarious balance of nature (and how a man who can talk to the animals and plants can help bring justice and fairness to their society), and even a reflection by the Doctor on man's inhumanity to man--and why he prefers the company of animals. The science is fantastic but believable: Lofting's imaginative speculation on the low atmosphere and gravity of the moon, and how the plants and animals have evolved to compensate, is one of the highlights. This book entertained and thrilled me as a kid, and I'm pleased to say it did so as an adult as well. Sadly, it's currently out of print. I can definitely see fans of the Harry Potter adventures also enjoying Doctor Dolittle...it's time for a savvy publisher to make the entire series available again for a new generation. (And the Mushroom Planet books by Eleanor Cameron, too, while you're at it!)

This classic book by Hugh Lofting tells the tale of Dr. Dolittle, his companion Stubbins, his parrot Polynesia, and monkey Chee Chee as they arrive on the moon by way of a giant moth. Discoveries and adventures await them as they travel throughout this new world and try to find out why they were brought the moon. The book climaxes when Dr. Dolittle and company get a chance to meet the Man in the Moon! The book leaves you hanging at the end and ready to buy the next book in the series!

Oh the JOY of reading Doctor Dolittle books! This is a great one. How can it be no publisher(s) have reprinted all the books including the zoo, the moon, the garden, the post office, puddleby adventures etc.?? Are they mad? These books are timeless stories that appeal to animal lovers everywhere!

Ahh, the feelings of nostalgia I get when I think of Dr. Dolittle, the man who could talk to the animals. In the fifth grade all I did was read Dr. Dolittle books. My school library only had the Story of Dr. Dolittle, Dr. Dolittle's Voyages, Dr. Dolittle's Post Office, and Doctor Dolittle's Circus, and I always had one of them checked out. Consequently, I got sick of them. Then came summer vacation, and my downtown public library had Dr. Dolittle's Caravan. Well, I read it and really got into it. The story ties in with both the aforementioned Dr. Dolittle's Circus as well as Dr. Dolittle and the Green Canary (to the point that read Green Canary borders on redundancy, but I digress). Herein Dr. Dolittle discovers the canary with her sweet songs and bittersweet life's story. My favorite part occurs where the good doctor meets Paganini, the infamous violinist. I liked the "flirting with historical fiction" Lofting tosses our direction. Chronologically, this story MUST take place before 1839, the year the Dr. meets Tommy Stubbins; Paganini died in 1837, I believe, so the timeline for this novel would be the mid-1830s (assuming Dr. Dolittle was taught the language of animals around 1830). I hope this book goes back in print soon.

What fun. Poems for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I will cherish this little gem of a book forever. My grandkids love it and ask me to read them a poem every day when I babysit. The drawings are darling. There's something for every member of the family. No wonder these are Doctor Dolittle's favorite poems. It's so nice to be able to pick up a quality hard cover book that the kids can enjoy over and over again.

Hugh Lofting is best known for his Doctor Dolittle stories, for which he won the second annual Newberry Medal for literature. Porridge Poetry is one of his most imaginative works, in writing as well as his silly illustrations. Reading the introduction allows you to see "The Man Who Spoke to Animals," through the eyes of his beloved son, Christopher.

Lofting served as a combat engineer in the Irish Guard, one of the British Army's elite regiments. While in the trenches he wrote home to his children, Colen and Elizabeth, subsequently creating Dr. Dolittle. His wife kept all the letters and sketches he sent home and suggested that he put them into book form. The name Dolittle is a spin-off of the nickname "Mr. Do- Little given to his half brother because he seemed to "do little around the house."

You and your child will enjoy the silly poems contained in this imaginative book. See the cute little pig, Virginia Ham dance and sing a merry tune. Enjoy the pipe smoking Sweet Potato Bug as he converses with a fledgling bird. Why is Mr. Beers digging a tunnel to China, and why is Scrubby Chubby scowling and growling. Each page contains a colorful illustration accompanied by a silly poem.

Hallmark presents a story that is a favorite with children and adults alike in a manner that is loads of fun! Any child would enjoy reading this story over and over again and adults will appreciate the intricacy of the pop ups.Not just a pop up book, this tells the full story with complete narrative making it a good book for reading to children. An Excellent all around book.

This is a wonderful book. If you can still find it because it is out of print now,Read it.

The concept of an animal doctor who can communicate with his patients is simply amusing. Lofting creates an ingenious book through his imagination and draws the reader in with every chapter by developing a sense of sincerity for his characters. If you have ever dreamed of 'speaking' with animals, then this is the perfect novel for you

I love this book. I really enjoyed it as a young child. I love the two headed goat, the bridge of monkeys, and Dr. Dolittle's repoire with the animals.

This is a story about a person who learns how to speak animal language. He goes to different countries and places where he finds adventure. With the help of his animal friends, he helps people in trouble. I thought it was awesome!

Both my 5 and 7 year old have enjoyed this book. In fact, they have enjoyed it so much that we are now reading The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle. This book is even better. They wake in the morning asking to be read this book. The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle would be great for a teacher to to read aloud just before writer's workshop. Great descriptors!