Doctor Dolittle

Hugh Lofting wrote twelve Doctor Dolittle books between 1920 and his death in 1947, with two final volumes published posthumously by his widow. The doctor is John Dolittle, a small comfortable English country physician who lives in Puddleby-on-the-Marsh, learns the languages of animals from his parrot Polynesia, and gives up his human practice to treat animal patients. His household includes Jip the dog, Dab-Dab the duck, Gub-Gub the pig, Chee-Chee the monkey, and the Pushmi-pullyu, a two-headed exotic species. Tommy Stubbins, a cobbler's son who becomes the doctor's apprentice and the series narrator from the second book onward, joins the cast in The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle. The books range from straightforward children's adventure (The Story, Voyages, Post Office, Circus) to philosophical science fiction (In the Moon, Return) to historical embedded narrative (The Secret Lake, The Green Canary). Read in publication order. Modern reprints often edit out racial portrayals from the original 1920s texts that no longer read well. The voice itself, gentle and slightly absent-minded, is what the series is loved for.