The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
by Hugh Lofting
Middle grade · ages 8–12 · grades 3–7 · 820L · 447 pages · 1991
Why we'd hand it over
A picaresque adventure brimming with invention and oddball charm; the animal characters and imaginative world-building reward the vocabulary lift, though the pacing meanders and some colonial-era attitudes require discussion.