Doctor Dolittle in the Moon

Rating:
Summary: A fantasy classic and well ahead of its time
Review: The movie musical version of "Doctor Dolittle" was on cable this weekend, and after cringing a bit at Rex Harrison's portrayal of the Doctor (about as faithful to the book as Julie Andrews was to P.L. Travers's original Mary Poppins), I pulled down several of my Hugh Lofting classics to remember why I loved these books so much. You probably know the general story: the adventures of an English animal doctor who learns the language of the animals. All of these books are great (start with "The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle" or "The Story of Doctor Dolittle") but "Doctor Dolittle in the Moon" was always my favorite as a kid, and I'm please to say it holds up extraordinarily well reading it in my late thirties! The adventure is continued in part from the previous book, "Doctor Dolittle's Garden," but you don't have to read that book at all to get right into the action: the good doctor is already on his way to the moon, on the back of a giant moth (it's not as silly as it sounds), along with faithful companions the parrot Polynesia and the monkey Chim-Chim--plus a stowaway, the Doctor's protégé and apprentice, Tommy Stubbins. They discover on the moon's dark side a fantastic world of giant--and talking--plants, weird creatures, and the mythical, millenniums-old Man in the Moon. I'm not *at all* doing justice to this--the setting is moody, spooky, even a little chilling, and always exciting--in my mind, no juvenile author has portrayed an alien world so well until Eleanor Cameron's "Mushroom Planet" books. It astonishes me how far ahead of his time Lofting was; I had to glance at the copyright page and actually check that it was published in 1928. I don't mean that he was prescient in what the moon is actually like (Lofting's moon is a weird but lush, living landscape), but his themes and ideas in this book were far beyond most of the books I read as a kid, and must have been revolutionary for juvenile lit in 1928: the ideas of evolution, the extraordinarily precarious balance of nature (and how a man who can talk to the animals and plants can help bring justice and fairness to their society), and even a reflection by the Doctor on man's inhumanity to man--and why he prefers the company of animals. The science is fantastic but believable: Lofting's imaginative speculation on the low atmosphere and gravity of the moon, and how the plants and animals have evolved to compensate, is one of the highlights. This book entertained and thrilled me as a kid, and I'm pleased to say it did so as an adult as well. Sadly, it's currently out of print. I can definitely see fans of the Harry Potter adventures also enjoying Doctor Dolittle...it's time for a savvy publisher to make the entire series available again for a new generation. (And the Mushroom Planet books by Eleanor Cameron, too, while you're at it!)

Rating:
Summary: A fantasy classic and well ahead of its time
Review: The movie musical version of "Doctor Dolittle" was on cable this weekend, and after cringing a bit at Rex Harrison's portrayal of the Doctor (about as faithful to the book as Julie Andrews was to P.L. Travers's original Mary Poppins), I pulled down several of my Hugh Lofting classics to remember why I loved these books so much. You probably know the general story: the adventures of an English animal doctor who learns the language of the animals. All of these books are great (start with "The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle" or "The Story of Doctor Dolittle") but "Doctor Dolittle in the Moon" was always my favorite as a kid, and I'm please to say it holds up extraordinarily well reading it in my late thirties! The adventure is continued in part from the previous book, "Doctor Dolittle's Garden," but you don't have to read that book at all to get right into the action: the good doctor is already on his way to the moon, on the back of a giant moth (it's not as silly as it sounds), along with faithful companions the parrot Polynesia and the monkey Chim-Chim--plus a stowaway, the Doctor's protégé and apprentice, Tommy Stubbins. They discover on the moon's dark side a fantastic world of giant--and talking--plants, weird creatures, and the mythical, millenniums-old Man in the Moon. I'm not *at all* doing justice to this--the setting is moody, spooky, even a little chilling, and always exciting--in my mind, no juvenile author has portrayed an alien world so well until Eleanor Cameron's "Mushroom Planet" books. It astonishes me how far ahead of his time Lofting was; I had to glance at the copyright page and actually check that it was published in 1928. I don't mean that he was prescient in what the moon is actually like (Lofting's moon is a weird but lush, living landscape), but his themes and ideas in this book were far beyond most of the books I read as a kid, and must have been revolutionary for juvenile lit in 1928: the ideas of evolution, the extraordinarily precarious balance of nature (and how a man who can talk to the animals and plants can help bring justice and fairness to their society), and even a reflection by the Doctor on man's inhumanity to man--and why he prefers the company of animals. The science is fantastic but believable: Lofting's imaginative speculation on the low atmosphere and gravity of the moon, and how the plants and animals have evolved to compensate, is one of the highlights. This book entertained and thrilled me as a kid, and I'm pleased to say it did so as an adult as well. Sadly, it's currently out of print. I can definitely see fans of the Harry Potter adventures also enjoying Doctor Dolittle...it's time for a savvy publisher to make the entire series available again for a new generation. (And the Mushroom Planet books by Eleanor Cameron, too, while you're at it!)

Rating:
Summary: Dr. Dolittle takes his practice to the moon!
Review: This classic book by Hugh Lofting tells the tale of Dr. Dolittle, his companion Stubbins, his parrot Polynesia, and monkey Chee Chee as they arrive on the moon by way of a giant moth. Discoveries and adventures await them as they travel throughout this new world and try to find out why they were brought the moon. The book climaxes when Dr. Dolittle and company get a chance to meet the Man in the Moon! The book leaves you hanging at the end and ready to buy the next book in the series!