Short entry #1: Dolittle

[bobquasit]

We just finished Doctor Dolittle's Post Office. And immediately started the next book in the series, Doctor Dolittle's Circus. This one is a direct sequel to the first book, and as I recall it's great.

I love that the library has old, uncensored editions of the Dolittle books!

Comments

[fibro-witch.livejournal.com]

What age reading group are the Dolittle books? I wonder if my friends son would like them.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

It's difficult to say; the first one was written in 1920, after all! Actually, it was written during World War I in the form of illustrated letters home from the front.

Sebastian is six. He's enjoying the books very much. I'd guess he understands 85%-90% of them. But there are some words that he doesn't get; I try to catch them and explain them to him. Children's vocabularies were considerably more advanced in the early 20th century!

There's also the whole issue of race. I have no doubt whatsoever that there is no racism in the Dolittle books. But modern editors panic when they see books that use the phrases "white man" and "black man". Prince Bumpo asks to have his face dyed white so he can marry a white woman he saw, and the Doctor does it, but notes that it's a silly business and that the important thing is that Bumpo has a good heart.

Bumpo turns up as a companion of the Doctor in some later books, and is generally a good-hearted but comic figure; some of the comedy is based on his "primitive" background, such as when he suggests that since a thuggish stowaway ate all their salt beef, it would be justice to salt him down and eat him in turn (but they don't). His language is also rather comical; he attended Oxford, and has some issues with his expanded vocabulary ("Cease! I fear I am about to weep from sediment.")

The dye job doesn't last, incidentally.

Anyway, from experience I'd say a bright five- or six-year-old would enjoy the books very much. Past the age of eight or nine, though, I fear that most children would find the books too old-fashioned, and not as appealing as TV or a video game.

That's tragic, but there isn't anything I can do about it.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

"Uncensored"? It's been years since I read Dr Dolittle (I was probably Sebastian's age), but I can't remember anything that needed censoring. What have I lost in the mists of time?