The Story of Doctor Dolittle (Illustrated)

By Hugh Lofting

"The Story of Doctor Dolittle" introduces us to this respected English physician and naturalist, whose love of animals and growing household menagerie leads to him learning the secret of speaking to animals from his parrot Polynesia, and then taking up veterinary practice. His fame in the animal kingdom spreads throughout the world, and he receives a desperate plea to go to Africa to cure a terrible monkey epidemic. So begins the first voyage of the Doctor and his animal companions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Flip
• Release date: May 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9782291019572

Hugh Lofting

Hugh Lofting (1886-1947) was an English writer, soldier, and civil engineer. Born in Berkshire, England, Lofting was raised in a family with Irish and English parentage. Educated at Mount St Mary’s College, Lofting matriculated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied civil engineering between 1905 and 1906. After working for several years as a civil engineer, Lofting enlisted in the Irish Guards in order to fight in the Great War. Horrified by his experience in combat, Lofting wrote creative letters home to his wife and children that originated his legendary character Doctor Dolittle, a physician with the unique ability to speak with animals. Gravely wounded in France, Lofting returned home briefly before moving with his family to Connecticut. In 1920, he published The Story of Doctor Dolittle, the first in a series of fifteen novels and short story collections for children that have inspired numerous adaptations for theater, film, and television. In addition to these novels, Lofting published several other works for children—including picture books and poems—as well as Victory for the Slain (1942), a long antiwar poem and his only work written for adult readers.