The Story of Doctor Dolittle

The Story of Doctor Dolittle is a 1920 book about Doctor John Dolittle and his animals. This book is the first in a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting. "The Story of Doctor Dolittle" is about a doctor who can speak with the animals in their own languages. He starts treating animals instead of human patients.
The book is set in Victorian England. Dolittle lives in the English village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh in the West Country. He has many friends, like Tommy Stubbins and Matthew Mugg, the Cats'-Meat Man. His house is filled with animals. He owns a parrot called Polynesia, a pig called Gub-Gub, a dog called Jip, a duck called Dab-Dab, a monkey called Chee-Chee, an owl called Too-Too, and a white mouse named "Whitey". He also owns a gazelle-unicorn cross called "pushmi-pullyu" ("push-me—pull-you") that has two heads, one at the back and one at the front of the body.
The doctor in this first book takes a ship to Africa to cure the animals there.