Dr. Dolittle

Author:  Hugh Lofting
Lexile measure: 920 (but it could be less depending on which book you pick)
Bottom line:  These are fun, timeless stories, but the Lexile is an accurate reflection of the skill needed to understand these books.
Language:  Acceptable.
Violence:   Sick animals and sick people (he's a doctor!).  A brief mention of poisoning, rejected out of hand. One of the later books involves a murder trial.
Big Kid Mature Topics:   Poverty/irresponsible spending is a key plot device. Casual smoking is present but not a big part of the story.  He talks about "the land of the White Men" .
Illustrations:  Black and white line drawings/lithographs, every few pages.
Plot:  complex.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think these come as separate books and we may have picked up a collection.  Initially my daughter did not like this book, so I picked it up, thinking she wouldn't take this one from me before I could read it.  WRONG.  (Hopefully she won't go for Gilgamesh next week.)  Anyways, she likes it now.  So, I'm thinking, maybe its difficult for younger kids who have less life experience and smaller vocabularies.  This is a good one for bedtime reading aloud.  It has short chapters, for those summer nights when you let your kid stay up just a little later than usual...