Doctor Dolittle Books In Order

Publication Order of Doctor Dolittle Books

The Doctor Dolittle series is a popular series of children’s books and humorous originally created by a renowned British novelist. Hugh Lofting. The series began in 1920 and comprised of 12 books up to 1952. Hugh Lofting created the main character for this series in the form of Doctor John Dolittle. He is described as a physician, who favors animals more than humans. Doctor Dolittle has his own way of speaking to the animals in their languages. He goes on to become a naturalist later in the series. Doctor Dolittle uses his abilities to talk to animals in an attempt to understand nature in a better way and learn about the world’s history. This character appeared for the first time in the letters written by the author to his children during the First World War, when the actual news was either too dull or too horrible. Hugh Lofting has set the series in early Victorian England.

Doctor Dolittle is shown living in a fictional English village known as Puddleby in West Country. The close human friends of Dolittle include Matthew Mugg and Tommy Stubbins. His animal team includes a pig named Gub-Gub, a monkey named Chee-Chee, a parrot named Polynesia, a goose named Dab-Dab, a dog named Jip, an owl named Too-Too, a white mouse, and the Pushmipullyu. It is believed that one of the inspirations behind the creation of Dollittle’s characters was a Scottish surgeon named John Hunter. In the 1998 film series adaptation of the novel series, the family members of Doctor Dolittle are shown comprising of his wife Lisa Dolittle, daughters Charisse and Maya Dolittle, sister Sarah Dolittle, and father Archer Dolittle. The 2020 series features his wife as Lily Dolittle.

Hugh Lofting won the Newbery Medal for the second book of the series. Five of the novels were released after the death of Hugh Lofting in 1947. The initial events of this series are set in the early 1800s, after which the series progresses to cover several years. There have been many adaptations of Doctor Dolittle for radio, TV, stage music, audiobooks, animation, and films over the years. Recently, Hollywood actor portrayed the role of Doctor Dolittle in the 2020 movie called Dolittle. Other actors who have played Dolittle include Eddie Murphy and Rex Harrison. Bob Holt has done the voice-over work in some of the adaptations. Additionally, Doctor Dolittle has been used as an inspiration for works in different languages, including Russian, Japanese, Norwegian, and Lithuanian.

The debut book of the Doctor Dolittle series written by author Hugh Lofting is entitled ‘The Story of Doctor Dolittle’. It was originally released in 1920 followed by a re-release in 2005 by HarperCollins. The book opens by showing that Dolittle is fond of animals. His love for them is so much that his office and home overflow with different kinds of animals. He begins to learn animals’ languages with the help of his parrot named Polynesia. This unique effort makes Doctor Dolittle word-famous and gives him the chance to travel to different countries for helping his friends. The narrator of this story is Tommy Stubbins, who comes across an injured squirrel and informs Matthew Mugg. Matthew tells him to take him to Doctor Dolittle, who can cure the squirrel by talking to him in his language. This is the first time when Tommy, Matthew, and Dolittle come across each other and go on to become good friends. Michael Hague has provided illustrations in the latest edition of the book and it has been edited by award-winning novelists, Frederick and Patricia McKissack for the audience of this generation.

The second volume of this series is called ‘The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle’. It was also published in 2005 by HarperCollins after its first release in 1922. In this novel, Hugh Lofting has shown that Tommy Stubbins gets taken in by Dolittle as his new assistant. Many of the characters that appeared in the previous volume also appear in this novel. When Dolittle learns about the mysterious disappearance of one of his friends named Luke, he sets out to find him and gets involved in strange events. Tommy accompanies the doctor on all his voyages and embraces all the hazards of the journey with him. The overall plot of this novel is dominated by the kind-hearted activist of animal rights Doctor Dolittle.

The endearing humanitarian approach and the environmental concern of the good doctor make him a character to remember. This book contains an adventure story with a strong appeal to show compassion towards the non-human species dwelling the planet. Hugh Lofting has stressed about taking all the necessary actions to make this world suitable for both animals and humans. This novel went on to become widely popular and won the Newbery Medal in 1923. Its success motivated author Hugh Lofting to write more novels featuring Doctor Dolittle as the central character.

Hugh Loftin was a popular English writer and civil engineer. He was famous for creating the classic children’s book series, Doctor Dolittle. His books are popular all over the world and are known for their adventure and humor elements. Author Lofting was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, on January 14, 1886. His parents were John Brien and Elizabeth Agnes Loftin. Loftin had Irish and English ancestry because of his parents. His older brother, Hilary Loftin, was also a novelist who migrated to Australia in 1915. Author Loftin completed his college studies from Mount St. Mary’s College, located in Spinkhill, Derbyshire.

Between 1905 and 1906, he was a student of civil engineering at MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hugh Lofting traveled a lot in the role of a civil engineer. Later, he was enlisted in the British Army’s Irish Guard regiment during the First World War. At that time, Lofting did not wish to write about how brutal war was in the letter to his children. So, he used to describe imaginative stories in the letters so that his wife and kids do not become worried about him. Those stories were later used by him as the foundation for writing the successful Dolittle novels. In 1919, Loftin was seriously injured and let off from duty. He moved to Killingsworth, Connecticut with his family. Author Loftin had three times in his lifetime and had 3 children. One of his children, Christopher, is currently his literary estate’s executor.

One Response to “Doctor Dolittle”

1. Mario Ruiz: 2 years ago

   I have read all of the Dr. Doolittle Books and reread them over and over .
   Thanks to Mr. Hugh Lofting .

   Reply