Esio Trot (Puffin Fiction) - Softcover

Dahl, Roald

3.74

43,430 ratings by Goodreads

9780141311333: Esio Trot (Puffin Fiction)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141311339 ISBN 13: 9780141311333

Publisher: Puffin Books, 2001

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A shy man, Mr Hoppy has only the courage for polite conversation with Mrs Silver, as she tends her pet tortoise Alfie, on the balcony below. But, when he learns that her dearest wish is for Alfie to grow bigger, he hatches a plan involving a giant pair of metal claws and 140 tortoises.

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About the Author:

Roald Dahl, the best-loved of children's writers, was born in Wales of Norwegian parents. After school in England he went to work for Shell in Africa. He began to write after "a monumental bash on the head", sustained as an RAF pilot in World War II. Roald Dahl died in 1990.

From Publishers Weekly:

This celebrated, splendidly matched author-illustrator team here present a 64-page love story that is equally sweet and silly. For years, Mr. Hoppy has leaned over his balcony rail to gaze longingly at Mrs. Silver, who lives one floor below him. But all of her attention and affection is showered upon her pet tortoise, Alfie. Although the creature seems content, his devoted owner is concerned because he has gained a mere three ounces in the 11 years she has owned him. When the distressed Mrs. Silver tells her neighbor that she will be his "slave for life" if he can find a way to make Alfie grow, the determined Mr. Hoppy devises an elaborate scheme to make her think the tortoise is growing. (Since tortoises, according to Mr. Hoppy, are backward creatures that "can only understand words that are written backwards," his exhortation to the pet begins "Esio Trot"--which is "tortoise" reversed.) It is a happy Hoppy who gets all the credit--and Mrs. Silver's hand. Adults and older children will appreciate Dahl's superior storytelling skills, and will chuckle at Blake's animated, cartoony drawings. But the book's length and subtle humor make it less suitable for beginning readers. All ages.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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