Review by Nathan:
This book is about a man named Dr. Dolittle who was a "people doctor" but after he began adopting and taking care of numerous animals, all but one of his patients left him. He soon decided to become an "animal doctor" and he learned to speak animal languages. A little ways into this career he receives a message for help from the monkeys in Africa to come and help them with an epidemic.
He encounters many adventures on his way to the monkeys, including getting ship wrecked and imprisoned by a king with bad memories of foreigners. He eventually makes his way back to his home in Europe after a ship sinking, making a pirate become a farmer and finding a missing man. And as some stories would put it "he lived happily ever after".
I enjoyed the humor in this book.
Reading age range: 11+ (may not be interesting later on) Book Category: Fiction
Book format I used: Paperback
We watched the movie (and this prompted me to read the book.)
The movie is quite different. In the movie Dr. Dolittle has lost his wife and shut himself away from the world but is called upon by the queen, who is very sick. He leaves reluctantly and goes to the castle where he decides to go in hunt of the Eden fruit to cure the queen. He and his animal helpers are pursed by the accomplish of the person trying to take over the kingdom. The diary he must get to show him the way to the fruit (which actually was his wife's-who died searching for the same fruit) is in the castle of a pirate. He barely escapes there with his life and has to track down the accomplish to the cave where the fruit is. In the cave there is a dragon the eventually allows Dr. Dolittle to get the fruit and they rush back to save the young queen just in time.
The movie is funny in it's own way but is not very close to the book.
