The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Revised, Newly Illustrated Edition: Doctor Dolittle

By Hugh Lofting, Melissa Dalton Martinez and Tom Tolman

In this first book in the beloved, magical childrens' series, the origins of the remarkable Doctor Dolittle are revealed!

 

With 33 all new illustrations of the quirky Doctor and his animal pals… 

 

…this classic story with an updated magical twist, is sure to be a family favorite! 

 

When Doctor John Dolittle's love of animals scares away his human patients, he finds himself on the verge of bankruptcy. Luckily, his parrot, Polynesia, has a solution—she teaches him to talk to animals. 

 

Using his new skill, Doctor Dolittle becomes a veterinarian, and his reputation soon spreads in the animal kingdom. With it, come requests for help from animals all over the world.

 

Sailing off with his band of animal companions, Doctor Dolittle seeks to help all he can while facing fierce storms, vicious pirates, angry kings, and more. 

 

Take time with your family today and join Doctor Dolittle for the adventure of a lifetime!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tolwis Publishing
• Release date: Aug 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781944091200

Book preview

Dolittle_Cover.jpg

Being the history of his peculiar life

at home and astonishing adventures

in foreign parts.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Revised, Newly Illustrated Edition

The Story of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting was first printed in 1920.

Revised Text Copyright © 2021 Melissa Dalton Martinez and Shannon Marsh

Editor's Note Copyright © 2021 Melissa Dalton Martinez

Illustration Copyright © 2021 Melissa Dalton Martinez

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the copyright holder, except where permitted by law. This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously.

The ebook edition of this book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. The ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share the ebook edition with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

EBook ISBN: 978-1-94409-20-0

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-944091-18-7

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-944091-19-4

Edited by Melissa Dalton Martinez

Cover design by Daniel Ruesch

Cover artwork and interior illustrations by Tom Tolman

Melissa Dalton Martinez, Art Director

Published by Tolwis Publishing

3731 W. South Jordan Parkway, Ste 102-114

South Jordan, UT 84009

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Editor’s Note

To Parents And Teachers

There are very few reasons to revise great literary works. Still, at times it is advisable to update archaic or potentially offensive prose for the modern reader—in The Story of Doctor Dolittle, this was the case.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle is a whimsical fantasy that has captured the minds of children for over 100 years. From republications to movie adaptations, this beloved character has been woven into our culture. As happens with time, however, we find that there are aspects of this beloved series that do not reflect the values we aspire to impress upon future generations. For this reason, we chose to revise some parts of the original work.

An important conversation is happening in the entertainment world today: namely, the lack of representation, and the misrepresentation, of Black and African cultures. Originally, as a writer of his time, Lofting portrayed African characters in demeaning and stereotypical ways. Our focus with this revised and newly illustrated version of the classic story, is to give the African characters the representation and respect they deserve. This required making minor edits throughout the book to remove racial slurs and re-writing half of chapter 11 and all of chapter 12.

In addition, we also believed the illustrations deserved to be updated, especially with artwork that would properly embody Doctor Dolittle’s adventures in Africa.

This new edition also features 32 remarkable new illustrations by Tom Tolman that will immerse young readers in the story introducing Doctor Dolittle, as they follow his adventures in Africa. Through the stunning new artwork, learn to love the animals as much as he does. We hope this edition reaches a new generation of readers who can enjoy, and relate to, the wonderful adventures of an iconic character in children’s literature.

—Melissa Dalton Martinez, Tolwis Publishing

Contents

Puddleby

Animal Language

More Money Troubles

A Message From Africa

The Great Journey

Polynesia And The King

The Bridge Of Apes

The Leader Of The Lions

The Monkeys’ Council

The Rarest Animal Of All

The Lovestruck Prince

Medicine And Magic

Red Sails And Blue Wings

The Rats’ Warning

The Barbary Dragon

Too-Too, The Listener

The Ocean Gossips

Smells

The Rock

The Fisherman’s Town

Home Again

Puddleby

The First Chapter

Puddleby

Once upon a time, many years ago — when our grandfathers were little children —there was a doctor, and his name was Dolittle —John Dolittle, M.D. M.D. means that he was a proper doctor and knew a whole lot.

He lived in a little town called, Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. All the folks, young and old, knew him well by sight. And whenever he walked down the street in his high hat, everyone would say, There goes the Doctor! — He’s a clever man. And the dogs and the children would all run up and follow behind him. Even the crows that lived in the church-tower would caw and nod their heads.

The house he lived in on the edge of the town was quite small, but his garden was very large and had a wide lawn and stone seats and weeping willows hanging down. His sister, Sarah Dolittle, was housekeeper for him, but the Doctor looked after the garden himself.

He was very fond of animals and kept many kinds of pets. Besides the goldfish in the pond at the bottom of his garden, he had rabbits in the pantry, white mice in his piano, a squirrel in the linen closet, and a hedgehog in the cellar. He had a cow with a calf too, and an old lame horse —twenty-five years of age — and chickens, and pigeons, and two lambs, and many other animals. But his favorite pets were Dab-Dab the duck, Jip the dog, Gub-Gub the baby pig, Polynesia the parrot, and Too-Too the owl.

His sister used to grumble about all these animals and said they made the house untidy. And one day when an old lady with rheumatism came to see the Doctor, she sat on the hedgehog, who was sleeping on the sofa. She never again came to see him, but drove every Saturday all the way to Oxenthorpe, another town ten miles off, to see a different doctor.

Then his sister, Sarah Dolittle, came to him and said,

John, how can you expect sick people to come and see you when you keep all these animals in the house? It’s a fine doctor who would have his parlor full of hedgehogs and mice! That’s the fourth personage these animals have driven away. Squire Jenkins and the Parson say they wouldn’t come near your house again —no matter how sick they are. We are getting poorer every day. If you go on like this, none of the best people will have you for a doctor.

But I like the animals better than the ‘best people,’ said the Doctor.

You are ridiculous, said his sister, and she walked out of the room.

So, as time went on, the Doctor got more and more animals, and the people who came to see him got less and less. Till at last he had no one left — except the Cat’s-meat-Man, who didn’t mind any kind of animals. But the Cat’s-meat-Man wasn’t very rich, and he only got sick once a year — at Christmas time, when he used to give the Doctor sixpence for a bottle of medicine.

Sixpence a year wasn’t enough to live on — even in those days, long ago — and if the Doctor hadn’t had some money saved up in his money-box, no one knows what would have happened.

And he kept on getting still more pets; and, of course, it cost a lot to feed them. And the money he had saved up grew littler and littler.

Then he sold his piano and let the mice live in a bureau-drawer. But the money he got for that too began to go, so he sold the brown suit he wore on Sundays and went on becoming poorer and poorer.

And now, when he walked down the street in his high hat, people would say to one another, There goes John Dolittle, M.D.! There was a time when he was the best-known doctor in the West Country. Look at him now — he hasn’t any money, and his stockings are full of holes!

But the dogs and