D: Dr. Doolittle

In participation with the A to Z Blog Challenge for 2016, we’re posting fun children’s stories tidbits: snippets from stories, book reviews, Top 10’s and more, all in an A to Z theme. We’ll post every day during April, except Sunday’s – when we all get time off for good behavior.

I hope you enjoy these posts geared for young children. Check out some of the awesome blogs that are participating in the A to Z Challenge this year. There’s over 1700 blogs participating in the challenge, so I’m sure you’ll find some treasures in there.

D: DR. DOOLITTLE

My favorite hero is a fictional man, created by an author that died more than ten years before I was born. As a young reader Dr. Doolittle captivated me…because he could ‘Talk to the animals, learn their languages…’

The actual books that I devoured were written many years before I was born – actually, they were written even before my mom and my dad were born!

So how did they end up being so popular still so many years later? I remember the summer reading program in Toledo, Ohio, between 5^th and 6^th grade (1969). They had sheets with a picture of Dr. Doolittle and his many animals. For each book we read, we got a sticker to put on his page. His jacket, his hat, his briefcase and more. All summer I read and read. I think I completed three pages that summer. And leading the list of books I read were all the Dr. Doolittle books that the library had.

Now that I see that in 1967 a film musical was made, starring Rex Harrison, this is probably what fueled the popularity of Dr. Doolittle at that time.

All I know is that I too, wanted to be able to talk to all the animals of the planet and to have the ability to make friends with them all. It made for a perfect case of my first idol worship. Thank you Hugh Lofting for creating these marvelous books.

From Wikipedia, here’s a list of the Dr. Doolittle books that were written (three published after the authors death)

The books, in order of publication, are:

1. The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920)
2. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922)
3. Doctor Dolittle’s Post Office (1923)
4. Doctor Dolittle’s Circus (1924)
5. Doctor Dolittle’s Zoo (1925)
6. Doctor Dolittle’s Caravan (1926)
7. Doctor Dolittle’s Garden (1927)
8. Doctor Dolittle in the Moon (1928)
9. Doctor Dolittle’s Return (1933)
10. Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake (1948)
11. Doctor Dolittle and the Green Canary (1950)
12. Doctor Dolittle’s Puddleby Adventures (1952)