Discover a new way to read classics with Quick Read. This Quick Read edition includes both the full text and a summary for each chapter. - Reading time of the complete text: about 2 hours - Reading time of the summarized text: 17 minutes "The Story of Doctor Dolittle" is a children's novel written and illustrated by Hugh Lofting. It is the first book in the Doctor Dolittle series, which follows the adventures of a man who learns to talk to animals and becomes their champion around the world. The plot revolves around John Dolittle, a physician who learns to speak to animals and takes up veterinary practice after his household menagerie scares off his human clientele. He voyages to Africa to cure a monkey epidemic and faces many challenges along the way, including being shipwrecked and captured by the king of Jolliginki. The book was published in the US in 1920 and in the UK in 1924. However, the book contains racial slurs and racist caricatures of Africans in Lofting's illustrations. In 1988, Dell Publishing removed the slurs and colorist subplot from the centenary editions of the book.