''Doctor Dolittle's Post Office'' is the third of

Hugh Lofting Hugh John Lofting (14 January 1886 – 26 September 1947) was an English-American writer, trained as a civil engineer, who created the classic children's literature character Doctor Dolittle. The fictional physician talking to animals, based i ...

Doctor Dolittle Doctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting starting with the 1920 '' The Story of Doctor Dolittle''. He is a physician who shuns human patients in favour of animals, with whom he can speak in th ...

books. Set on the West Coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, the 1923 book follows the episodic format of most other books in the series. In the beginning of the book, Doctor Dolittle helps to capture a slave trader's ship, then organizes the postal service of a small African kingdom, Fantippo, ruled over by King Koko. Mobilizing migrating birds to carry people's mail from continent to continent, Doctor Dolittle effectively anticipates the 20th century invention of

air mail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

. Over the course of later chapters, he discovers a hidden island populated by prehistoric creatures, gets thrown into another African jail, invents animal alphabets, and defeats at least two armies. Each of the animals in the Dolittle family also tells a personal story. The postal program grows into a worldwide postal and publishing service for the benefit of animals everywhere."All about that magic language"
''Daily News''. Retrieved 2013-11-18. The final segment of the book is the Doctor's journey to meet Mudface the Turtle, the oldest living creature on Earth, who survived the Great Flood. The extensive tale of the Great Flood is presented in a later volume of the series, ''

Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake ''Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake'' is a Doctor Dolittle book written by Hugh Lofting. The book was published posthumously in 1948, 15 years after its predecessor. Fittingly, it is the longest book in the series, and the tone is the darkes ...

'', posthumously published in 1948.

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* * * 1923 British novels 1923 children's books 1923 fantasy novels British children's novels Doctor Dolittle books Frederick A. Stokes Company books Novels about postal systems Novels set in Africa {{1920s-child-novel-stub