1. What is the Colonel's role in the story? How would the story be different without him?

2. What kind of relationship does Tommy Stubbins have with his parents?

3. How effective is the choice of point of view in the novel? How different would the story be if Polynesia told it?

4. Discuss the types of humor that you find in the book? Are there important differences in these types?

5. Why does Doctor Dolittle not appear until the third chapter of the story?

6. Find passages that appeal to the senses—sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.

7. Which adventure of Doctor Dolittle's —the saving of Luke, the bullfights, or the Spidermonkey Island war—did you like best? Why?

8. What is the function of the word definitions in the book? Do you find them a distraction from the story?