Hugh Lofting

Author profile

born

January 14, 1886 in Maidenhead, The United Kingdom

died

September 26, 1942

gender

male

genre

Children's Books, Poetry

About this author

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Hugh Lofting was a British author, trained as a civil engineer, who created the character of Doctor Dolittle — one of the classics of children's literature.

Lofting was born in Maidenhead, England, to English and Irish parents. His early education was at Mount St Mary's College in Sheffield, after which he went to the United States, completing a degree in civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He traveled widely as a civil engineer before enlisting in the Irish Guards to serve in World War I. Not wishing to write to his children of the brutality of the war, he wrote imaginative letters that were the foundation of the successful Doctor Dolittle novels for children. Seriously wounded in the war, he moved with his family...more Hugh Lofting was a British author, trained as a civil engineer, who created the character of Doctor Dolittle — one of the classics of children's literature.

Lofting was born in Maidenhead, England, to English and Irish parents. His early education was at Mount St Mary's College in Sheffield, after which he went to the United States, completing a degree in civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He traveled widely as a civil engineer before enlisting in the Irish Guards to serve in World War I. Not wishing to write to his children of the brutality of the war, he wrote imaginative letters that were the foundation of the successful Doctor Dolittle novels for children. Seriously wounded in the war, he moved with his family to Connecticut in the United States. Lofting was married three times and had three children, one of whom, his son Christopher, is the executor of his literary estate.

"For years it was a constant source of shock to me to find my writings amongst 'juveniles,'" Lofting reported. "It does not bother me any more now, but I still feel there should be a category of 'seniles' to offset the epithet."

Doctor Dolittle
Hugh Lofting's doctor from Puddleby-on-the-Marsh who could speak to animals first saw light in the author's illustrated letters to children, written from the trenches during World War I when actual news, he later said, was either too horrible or too dull. The stories are set in early Victorian England, (in and around the 1840s, according to a date given in The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle). The Story of Doctor Dolittle: Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts Never Before Printed (1920) began the series and won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958.The sequel, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922), won Lofting the prestigious Newbery Medal. Eight more books followed, and after Lofting's death two more volumes, composed of short unpublished pieces, appeared. The series has been adapted for film and television many times, for stage twice, and for radio.
Other Works for Children
The Story of Mrs Tubbs (1923) and Tommy, Tilly, and Mrs. Tubbs (1936) are picture books aimed at a younger audience than the Doctor Dolittle books. They concern the titular old woman, her pets (with whom she can speak) and the animals who help her out of trouble.

Porridge Poetry (1924) is the only non-Dolittle work by Lofting still in print. It is a lighthearted, colorfully illustrated book of poems for children.

Noisy Nora (1929) is a cautionary tale about a girl who is a noisy eater. The book is printed as if hand-written, and the many illustrations often merge with the text.

The Twilight of Magic (1930) is aimed at older readers. It is set in an age when magic is dying and science is beginning. This work is the only one of Lofting's books to be illustrated by another person (Lois Lenski).
Victory for the Slain
Victory for the Slain (1942) is Lofting's only work for adults, a single long poem in seven parts about the futility of war; the refrain "In war the only victors are the slain" permeates the poem. It was published only in the United Kingdom.(less)

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Books by Hugh Lofting

Average rating: 3.90 · 14,127 ratings · 449 reviews · 55 distinct works

	The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting, Peter Glassman, Fredrick McKissack 3.91 avg rating — 9,026 ratings — published 1920 — 111 editions	My rating:
	The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting, Michael Hague (Illustrations) 3.92 avg rating — 3,337 ratings — published 1922	My rating:
	Doctor Dolittle's Circus 3.76 avg rating — 260 ratings — published 1924 — 14 editions	My rating:
	Doctor Dolittle's Zoo 3.68 avg rating — 202 ratings — published 1975 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Doctor Dolittle's Return 3.79 avg rating — 186 ratings — published 1933 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Doctor Dolittle In The Moon 3.77 avg rating — 158 ratings — published 1928 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Doctor Dolittle's Garden 3.77 avg rating — 154 ratings — published 1927 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Doctor Dolittle's Post Office 3.77 avg rating — 150 ratings — published 1923 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Doctor Dolittle and the Green Canary 3.98 avg rating — 122 ratings — published 1950 — 11 editions	My rating:
	Doctor Dolittle's Caravan 3.73 avg rating — 112 ratings — published 1926 — 8 editions	My rating:

More books by Hugh Lofting…

Series by Hugh Lofting

Doctor Dolittle (14 books)
by Hugh Lofting

3.90 avg rating — 13,889 ratings

Quotes by Hugh Lofting

“What is war?' I asked.
Oh, it's a messy, stupid business,' he said, 'Two sides wave flags and beat drums and shoot one another dead. It always begins this way, making speeches, talking about rights, and all that sort of thing.'
But what is it for? What do they get out of it?'
I don't know,' he said. 'To tell you the truth, I don't think they know themselves.”
― Hugh Lofting, Doctor Dolittle and the Green Canary

tags: war

9 people liked it

Polls

What Newbery Medal winning book would you like to read in September?

1982 - A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard

6 votes 37.5%

1952 - Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes

4 votes 25.0%

1923 - The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting

3 votes 18.8%

1958 - Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith

2 votes 12.5%

1942 - The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds

1 vote 6.3%

16 total votes

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