The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting

This was a humorous story full of imagination written for children in the early 1900s. Doctor Dolittle is a doctor who used to treat people in his home, but he kept bringing more animals into the home driving his human customers away. My favorite quote from the book said by Doctor Dolittle is: "“But I like the animals better than the ‘best people’,” said the Doctor." Therefore, the penniless doctor had to make a change in his profession and become an animal doctor. He learned to speak animal languages and some wild adventures ensued.

Eventually the doctor and his animal friends were off to Africa to save the monkeys. This is the part of the story that I did not like. If only the author had left out the humans in this story. There is blatant racism and stereotypes of dark-skinned Africans in this story that become a huge part of the story when the African prince would only free the doctor and his animal pals if the doctor could give him light skin. I wanted to tell the prince that one day he will find his princess and that he does not need to change his appearance just for her.

All in all, The Story of Doctor Dolittle has inspired me to use my imagination and perhaps one day soon I will write a children's book with my imagination like Hugh Lofting did in this story except without stereotypes and racism. I am grateful that the world has changed so much in 100 years.