The Story of Doctor Dolittle

Book excerpt: A brief, simplified retelling of the episode in Doctor Dolittle during which a crocodile runs away from the circus to get help from the physician-turned-veterinarian, who gives him back his smile. It's a timeless theme: the desire to go back home, to the place where one belongs. And it's one that resonates powerfully with small children. So they'll understand why the sad crocodile is yearning for his faraway native Africa. And though Dr. Dolittle knows his medicine, curing a broken heart is another thing altogether. Can he help? Sympathetic young readers will have their fingers crossed.