What do you think?
Rate this book
La historia del Doctor Dolittle
Historias Maravillosas #42
El Dr. John Dolittle tiene un extraño don: puede hablar con todos los animales. Es así que decide que ahora debe ser un médico de animales. Su fama crece en el mundo entero, pero pronto se entera de una epidemia que esta haciendo estragos en el África, por lo cual Dolittle deberá viajar al continente y sortear muchos peligros antes de poder ayudar a los pobres monos.
El Dr. John Dolittle tiene un extraño don: puede hablar con todos los animales. Es así que decide que ahora debe ser un médico de animales. Su fama crece en el mundo entero, pero pronto se entera de una epidemia que esta haciendo estragos en el África, por lo cual Dolittle deberá viajar al continente y sortear muchos peligros antes de poder ayudar a los pobres monos.
177 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1920
4 people want to read
About the author
Hugh Lofting
390 books186 followersHugh 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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 27, 2024
Conocía al Dr. Dolittle por una serie de caricaturas que veía de pequeño en la televisión, viajando por todo el mundo con sus animales, y aunque en algún momento conocí las novelas en las que estaba basado, nunca me dio por comprarlas o leerlas. Precisamente hoy compré este, que es el primer libro de la serie y nomás de comenzar a leerlo, me enganchó. Hugh Lofting tiene una manera envidiable de escribir, con una sencillez que es casi cristalina, y con unos diálogos tan vividos que logran reflejar en ellos la personalidad de cada uno de los animales que acompañan al Doctor.
Dolittle tiene un don que poco a poco mejoró: puede entender y puede hablar con los animales, por lo tanto se convierte en médico de ellos. Su fama crece a nivel mundial y todos los animales quieren ir con él para ser curados y atendidos, pero Dolittle no cobra, para el es un deber externar sus cuidados a todo animal (sin duda es una obra marcadamente ecologista en muchos aspectos) y eso pronto lo lleva a la pobreza. Entonces, una tarde, recibe una llamada de auxilio del África: una terrible epidemia esta matando a los monos de la selva y Dolittle no puede evitar ir en su ayuda apelando a las almas caritativas que pueden prestarle un barco para llegar allá. Y ahí comienza su viaje donde se verá perseguido por uno de los reyes negros del África así como por un pirata asesino.
En algún capítulo, las preclaras mentes progresistas se sentirán insultadas cuando el pequeño príncipe africano, Bompo, le pida al Dr. Dolittle el que lo vuelva blanco para poder casarse con "la bella durmiente", pero esta novela de Lofting tiene por sí misma un corazón tan grande y generoso que todos notarán que no hay ningún dolo en esta escena.
Las aventuras del Dr. Dolittle resultaron para mí una buena experiencia (me leí el libro en una sentada) que espero pronto poder leer los otros de la serie. Y le daré una oportunidad a la película de Robert Dawney Jr. a ver si cumple...
Dolittle tiene un don que poco a poco mejoró: puede entender y puede hablar con los animales, por lo tanto se convierte en médico de ellos. Su fama crece a nivel mundial y todos los animales quieren ir con él para ser curados y atendidos, pero Dolittle no cobra, para el es un deber externar sus cuidados a todo animal (sin duda es una obra marcadamente ecologista en muchos aspectos) y eso pronto lo lleva a la pobreza. Entonces, una tarde, recibe una llamada de auxilio del África: una terrible epidemia esta matando a los monos de la selva y Dolittle no puede evitar ir en su ayuda apelando a las almas caritativas que pueden prestarle un barco para llegar allá. Y ahí comienza su viaje donde se verá perseguido por uno de los reyes negros del África así como por un pirata asesino.
En algún capítulo, las preclaras mentes progresistas se sentirán insultadas cuando el pequeño príncipe africano, Bompo, le pida al Dr. Dolittle el que lo vuelva blanco para poder casarse con "la bella durmiente", pero esta novela de Lofting tiene por sí misma un corazón tan grande y generoso que todos notarán que no hay ningún dolo en esta escena.
Las aventuras del Dr. Dolittle resultaron para mí una buena experiencia (me leí el libro en una sentada) que espero pronto poder leer los otros de la serie. Y le daré una oportunidad a la película de Robert Dawney Jr. a ver si cumple...
June 14, 2024
Una historia simplemente maravillosa
Muy entretenida y sin duda algo que leería para mis pequeños
Muy entretenida y sin duda algo que leería para mis pequeños
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews