The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (Classic Starts Series)

by Hugh Lofting, Kathleen Olmstead (Abridged by), Lucy Corvino (Illustrator), Arthur Pober (Afterword)

Overview

Doctor Dolittle is a very special vet—because he knows how to talk to the animals!  So when he hears that there’s a terrible sickness hurting all the monkeys in Africa, the good doctor knows he must go and help them. Soon he’s off on an exciting adventure across the seas in this superb retelling of Hugh Lofting’s beloved classic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781402772429
Publisher:	Union Square Kids
Publication date:	09/18/2009
Series:	Classic Starts® Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	494,662
Lexile:	500L (what's this?)
File size:	696 KB
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

About the Author

Hugh Lofting was born in 1866 in Maidenhead, England. He trained as a civil engineer, getting his education from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Polytechnic Institute of London. He worked in Africa, the West Indies and Canada and then settled in New York to become a writer. The stories about Doctor Dolittle began as letters to his children while overseas in England during World War I, where Lofting served with the British Army. The first Doctor Dolittle book published was "The Story of Doctor Dolittle" in 1920. He wrote thirteen more, winning the Newberry Medal in 1923 for "The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle." Lofting illustrated all of the Dolittle books himself. In 1967, the Doctor Dolittle books were made into a musical film starring Rex Harrison. Hugh Lofting died in 1947 at the age of 81.

Read an Excerpt

Part One

The First Chapter

The Cobbler's Son

My name was Tommy Stubbins, son of Jacob Stubbins, the cobbler of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh; and I was nine and a half years old. At that time Puddleby was only quite a small town. A river ran through the middle of it; and over this river there was a very old stone bridge, called Kingsbridge, which led you from the marketplace on one side to the churchyard on the other.

Sailing ships came up this river from the sea and anchored near the bridge. I used to go down and watch the sailors unloading the ships upon the river wall. The sailors sang strange songs as they pulled upon the ropes; and I learned these songs by heart. And I would sit on the river wall with my feet dangling over the water and sing with the men, pretending to myself that I too was a sailor.

For I longed always to sail away with those brave ships when they turned their backs on Puddleby Church and went creeping down the river again, across the wide lonely marshes to the sea. I longed to go with them out into the world to seek my fortune in foreign lands -- Africa, India, China and Peru! When they got round the bend in the river and the water was hidden from view, you could still see their huge brown sails towering over the roofs of the town, moving onward slowly -- like some gentle giants that walked among the houses without noise. What strange things would they have seen, I wondered, when next they came back to anchor at Kingsbridge! And, dreaming of the lands I had never seen, I'd sit on there, watching till they were out of sight.

Three great friends I had in Puddleby in those days. One wasJoe, the mussel-man, who lived in a tiny hut by the edge of the water under the bridge. This old man was simply marvelous at making things. I never saw a man so clever with his hands. He used to mend my toy ships for me which I sailed upon the river; he built windmills out of packing cases and barrel staves; and he could make the most wonderful kites from old umbrellas.

Joe would sometimes take me in his mussel boat, and when the tide was running out we would paddle down the river as far as the edge of the sea to get mussels and lobsters to sell. And out there on the cold lonely marshes we would see wild geese flying, and curlews and redshanks and many other kinds of seabirds that live among the samfire and the long grass of the great salt fen. And as we crept up the river in the evening, when the tide had turned, we would see the lights on Kingsbridge twinkle in the dusk, reminding us of teatime and warm fires.

Another friend I had was Matthew Mugg, the Cat's-meat-Man. He was a funny old person with a bad squint. He looked rather awful but he was really quite nice to talk to. He knew everybody in Puddleby; and he knew all the dogs and all the cats. In those times being a Cat's-meat-Man was a regular business. And you could see one nearly any day going through the streets with a wooden tray full of pieces of meat stuck on skewers crying, "Meat! M-E-A-T!" People paid him to give this meat to their cats and dogs instead of feeding them on dog biscuits or the scraps from the table.

I enjoyed going round with old Matthew and seeing the cats and dogs come running to the garden gates whenever they heard his call. Sometimes he let me give the meat to the animals myself; and I thought this was great fun. He knew a lot about dogs and he would tell me the names of the different kinds as we went through the town. He had several dogs of his own; one, a whippet, was a very fast runner, and Matthew used to win prizes with her at the Saturday coursing races; another, a terrier, was a fine ratter. The Cat's-meat-Man used to make a business of rat-catching for the millers and farmers as well as his other trade of selling cat's-meat.

My third great friend was Luke the Hermit. But of him I will tell you more later on.

I did not go to school, because my father was not rich enough to send me. But I was extremely fond of animals. So I used to spend my time collecting birds' eggs and butterflies, fishing in the river, rambling through the countryside after blackberries and mushrooms and helping the mussel-man mend his nets.

Yes, it was a very pleasant life I lived in those days long ago -- though of course I did not think so then. I was nine and a half years old; and, like all boys, I wanted to grow up -- not knowing how well off I was with no cares and nothing to worry me. Always I longed for the time when I should be allowed to leave my father's house, to take passage in one of those brave ships, to sail down the river through the misty marshes to the sea-out into the world to seek my fortune.

The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle. Copyright © by Hugh Lofting. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	ix
	Prologue	1
Part 1
I	The Cobbler's Son	3
II	I Hear of the Great Naturalist	7
III	The Doctor's Home	12
IV	The Wiff-Waff	18
V	Polynesia	23
VI	The Wounded Squirrel	29
VII	Shellfish Talk	32
VIII	Are You a Good Noticer?	35
IX	The Garden of Dreams	39
X	The Private Zoo	42
XI	My Schoolmaster, Polynesia	45
XII	My Great Idea	48
XIII	A Traveler Arrives	51
XIV	Chee-Chee's Voyage	55
XV	I Become a Doctor's Assistant	58
Part 2
I	The Crew of "The Curlew"	61
II	Luke the Hermit	63
III	Jip and the Secret	66
IV	Bob	69
V	Mendoza	74
VI	The Judge's Dog	78
VII	The End of the Mystery	82
VIII	Three Cheers	85
IX	The Purple Bird-of-Paradise	88
X	Long Arrow, the Son of Golden Arrow	90
XI	Blind Travel	94
XII	Destiny and Destination	98
Part 3
I	The Third Man	101
II	Good-Bye!	106
III	Our Troubles Begin	109
IV	Our Troubles Continue	113
V	Polynesia Has a Plan	118
VI	The Bed-Maker of Monteverde	121
VII	The Doctor's Wager	124
VIII	The Great Bullfight	129
IX	We Depart in a Hurry	136
Part 4
I	Shellfish Languages Again	140
II	The Fidgit's Story	145
III	Bad Weather	155
IV	Wrecked!	158
V	Land!	164
VI	The Jabizri	168
VII	Hawk's-Head Mountain	172
Part 5
I	A Great Moment	177
II	"The Men of the Moving Land"	183
III	Fire	186
IV	What Makes an Island Float	189
V	War!	192
VI	General Polynesia	197
VII	The Peace of the Parrots	200
VIII	The Hanging Stone	203
IX	The Election	209
X	The Coronation of King Jong	214
Part 6
I	New Popsipetel	218
II	Thoughts of Home	224
II	The Red Man's Science	228
IV	The Sea-Serpent	231
V	The Shellfish Riddle Solved at Last	236
VI	The Last Cabinet Meeting	240
VII	The Doctor's Decision	243

Editorial Reviews

Gr 4-8-Doctor Dolittle sets sail towards the mysterious Spider Monkey Island accompanied by by nine-and-a-half-year-old Tommy Stubbins. By Hugh Lofting. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

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