Doctor Dolittle’s Return

Doctor Dolittle’s Return was published in 1933 and resolves the cliffhanger left at the end of Doctor Dolittle in the Moon. The doctor finally comes back from the Moon to Puddleby, accompanied by a giant lunar lily, lunar grasshoppers, and the rapidly fading memories of his time among the lunar plants. The book is the shortest in the series and was apparently intended partly as a wrap-up volume, since Lofting was tired of writing the doctor at this point.

Most of the book deals with the doctor readjusting to England after his time off-world, the consequences of his giant size temporarily acquired on the Moon, and the difficulty of describing lunar life to a small English village that would rather hear about animals. Tommy Stubbins has aged. The household has changed. There is a quiet sense throughout that this is the end of a long adventure, though Lofting did write two more Dolittle books later. A gentle close to the original sequence, best read directly after In the Moon.