The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle

by Kathleen Olmstead (Adapted By), Lucy Corvino (Illustrations), Arthur Pober (Afterword)

Doctor Dolittle is a very special vet—because he knows how to talk to the animals!  So when he hears that there’s a terrible sickness hurting all the monkeys in Africa, the good doctor knows he must go and help them. Soon he’s off on an exciting adventure across the seas in this superb retelling of Hugh Lofting’s beloved classic.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Animals, Childrens, Adventure

160 pages, Hardcover

Published February 5, 2008

About the author

Kathleen Olmstead is the author of several Classic Starts books, including Anne of Avonlea and Moby Dick, as well as Jacques Cousteau: A Life Under the Sea and Matthew Henson: The Quest for the North Pole, both in the Sterling Biographies series.

Reviews

[Nicoleta]

Macelarul e prietenos si neinfricat, gata sa ajute animalele doctorului Dolittle. Pescarul, altul care isi castiga painea sacrificand niste biete animale, da si el o barca pentru a ajuta maimutele din Africa.
Un cal batran e cel mai potrivit sa aiba grija de o gospodarie. Doar calul e cel mai curat dintre animale.
Cainele Costita e mandru de zgarda de aur primita. De ce nu ar fi, cand i-a fost oferita ca premiu.
Rata Mac-Mac nu il crede pe Costita capabil sa il gaseasca pe unchiul baiatului, dar nimeni nu ii critica negativismul.
Papagalul Polinezia e din Africa.
Maimuta Ci-ci spune povesti cu mamuti. Sunt si studii care spun ca maimutele si dinozaurii ar fi coexistat.
Piratii promit sa se faca fermieri.
Cand vrei sa fii erou, mai bine sa nu crezi in vraji.
Doctorul Dolittle face tare multe si e un erou pe cinste.

[Shinta · Rating 5 out of 5]

perjalanan mereka seru bgt, jd pengen melakukan perjalanan juga. aku akan membaca seri kedua hari in:)

[Kaitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this to my little sister and two little brothers. Two chapters before bedtime. I love reading to them!

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This edition arrived from Powell's the same day he finished the library copy of "the Story of Doctor Dolittle" This one turned out to be an abridged version which Thomas promptly read.

"Which edition do you prefer?"
"This one."
"Why?"
"Well, it seems to have a lot more detail.
"Really, I would have expected the opposite since this one is abridged."
"Well, the other one may have more story, but this one has more detail."

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the creativity of this story. The tales and adventures. It was fun to read out loud to my child.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun. My 3 year-old loved the animals and the story. There were pictures she wanted to see, and the story was wonderful.

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my quest to read all the Newbery books, I’ve had trouble with this one, only the second book in the series, it was written in 1922. I first picked up The Story of Dr. Dolittle only to discover after I read it that it was actually the first book in the series and I needed to find the one which won the Newbery winner, The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle. Since I hadn’t enjoyed The Story of Dr. Dolittle that much, I went ahead and ordered the Classic Starts edition of The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle only to discover it was the exact same story from the first book, the Story of...only in a simpler version. It appears that Classic Starts used the title of the Newbery winner while retelling the first novel in the series. So I guess I’ve never actually read the 1922 Dolittle book, but I‘ve had enough of the good doctor.

[Joel & Bekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Dolittle is an people doctor but he like animals a lot better. Doctor Dolittle went on a voyage to Africa because some monkeys were sick so Dr. Dolittle went to Africa. When Dr Dolittle went to Africa he went to the king. Now the king did not like other people in his land so he put Dr Dolittle in jail but Dr. Dolittle gets out.When Dr. Dolittle makes the monkey's better the monkey's want to give the Doctor a gift so some of the monkey's set out to find a pushme-pullyou which is the most rarest animal of all. I like Dr. Dolittle because he had a lot of animal's.

[Catherine Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

My seven year old son and I enjoyed reading this abridged version together. It was easy enough for him to read out loud to me. However, until we finished and I looked online for reviews of the book, I didn't realize just how "abridged" it is. It sounds like there are MAJOR story lines and characters cut out of the book. I wish we had just read the original together instead of the classic starts version. This is making me re-think my plan to go through the classic starts series this school year and perhaps jump to reading all the originals instead!

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess this is a simplified or updated version of the classic Doctor Dolittle book. I haven't read the original, so I don't know if this does a great job of capturing the essence of the original. I read it to my kids after reading all of the Harry Potters with them and I assumed that they would find this too basic or boring in comparison. But they really got into the story and enjoyed it. I thought all of his animal names were too confusing to keep track of and thought the plot left off some interesting threads. But not too shabby.

[Leah Hahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book Dr. John Dolittle was a doctor, but he is more fond of his pets, than the patients. He decides to switch gears to become a veterinarian instead. Dr. Dolittle's parrot Polynesia teaches him how to speak to animals, and the two of them begin their voyage to their most important case ever.

This book is great for around a fourth grade level.

[Ethar Muhammad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doctor Dolittle said, “sometimes common sense is the best medicine.”
I can say it's one of the most captivating and simplest stories at the same time that's surely will be very interesting for children to read , the classic version is also unique and introduced every thing comprehensively and I mean that will help to get the young readers' attention to read more ..

[Nichole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a great read aloud for us! Extremely enjoyable for all ages.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely delightful! Probably a bit junior for high school kids but I loved it. So clever and funny.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute easy to read version for kids will all the fun!

[Emily B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book! It was a very speedy read and went into detail about the characters and setting and how they acted. Would recommend!

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Starts version of The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this story with my kids. Caleb LOVED it!

[Zahra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was good because the chapters weren't too long.

[Abby Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Isaiah enjoyed!

[Kasey Damery · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kids and I really enjoyed this book! After every chapter, they wanted me to keep reading. It’s nice to read a classic but have easier readability and understanding for young listeners.

[lili · Rating 3 out of 5]

亲子共读英语启蒙读物，是个冒险的故事，但是语言、情��都极为简单易懂，是父母用来给小朋友讲的故事书。

[Koharu · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book "The voyages of Doctor Dolittle" is a great book for all readers. The ideas are stated very well. I suggested a this book to my sister and she started reading it. She got into the book that she didn't do except flip the pages until the book was over. After she finished reading it she told me that she was happy that I suggested this kind of book.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My reading support students loved this silly, easy to follow tale of dr dolittle and his animal friends. They were looking up all the other dolittle stories discussing which ones they want to check out from the library next!

[Lisa Harvey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This version was so incredibly poorly written. I found myself trying to restructure the sentences as I read loud to my kids. Even my son said, "Why did they say 'must' so many times in that paragraph?"

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

How amazing that Dolittle can speak to animals!!

[Jorgina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this aloud to my children, almost too ridiculous to be funny and my children seemed confused. It was a drag to get through to the end.

[A Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was interesting. It was a relatively quick read and I would recommend it to those who have just started reading.

[Havanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book filled with excitement and adventure, talking animals and much much more. I recommend you to read this book if you like adventure books.

[Hajir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny and enjoyable. After reading this book.. I want to learn to talk to animals.