DOCTOR DOLIITLE'S ZOO. By Hugh Lofting. (Jonathan Cape. 7s. 6d.)—All
children who are already acquainted with Doctor Dolittle will welcome Mr. Hugh Lofting's latest addition to the Dolittle Books. For those who have not had the good fortune to read them, it is perhaps well to explain that Dr. Dolittle is a small, fat, benevolent, middle-aged man, whose life is devoted to the care and pro- tection of animals. He lives at Puddleby-on-Marsh, with his housekeeper—a duck, Polynesia the parrot, his pig, his dog, countless other animals, and last but not least Tommy Stubbins, but for whose prolific pen the fame of this unique menage would never have travelled beyond the precincts of Puddleby.
Doctor Dolittle's Zoo is not a story of the adventures, voyages ' and dangers which beset the hero, of which Tommy has
already written, but of the domestic life of the Doctor and of his animal friends in the wonderful Zoo which he has built for them. The peaceful social life of this odd community is enlivened by surprise parties, clubs, the discovery of gold in a field and the joyous celebrations which take place in honour of Mr. Throgmorton's will, leaving a vast sum of money to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The book is a perfect bedtime story for children, because of its uneventfulness. It is not a children's book for
grown-ups, but is written from first to last essentially for children. The author is not winking at the gallery of grown-ups, neither is he in any way patronising : his book is written in delightful English and illustrated with drawings which are full of humour and chaini.
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