Esio Trot - Hardcover

Dahl, Roald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0224083864 ISBN 13: 9780224083867

Publisher: Jonathan Cape, 2010

Synopsis

Mr Hoppy, a retired bachelor, harbours a secret passion for his neighbour, the lovely Mrs Silver. Unfortunately, she lavishes all her affection on another, Alfie, her pet tortoise. Mr Hoppy’s wildly ingenious plot to defeat his rival and win the love of his lady will delight and amaze, involving as it does a cryptic riddle and no fewer than a hundred and forty tortoises, large and small.

About this title

About the Author:

Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was born in Llandaff, South Wales, and went to Repton School in England. His parents were Norwegian, so holidays were spent in Norway. As he explains in Boy, he turned down the idea of university in favor of a job that would take him to 'a wonderful faraway place'. In 1933 he joined the Shell Company, which sent him to Mombasa in East Africa. When World War II began in 1939 he became a fighter pilot and in 1942 was made assistant air attaché in Washington, where he started to write short stories. His first major success as a writer for children was in 1964. Thereafter his children's books brought him increasing popularity, and when he died children mourned the world over, particularly in Britain where he had lived for many years.
 
The BFG is dedicated to the memory of Roald Dahl's eldest daughter, Olivia, who died from measles when she was seven – the same age at which his sister had died (fron appendicitis) over forty years before.
 
Quentin Blake, the first Children’s Laureate of the United Kingdom, has illustrated most of Roald Dahl’s children’s books.

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0224083864
• ISBN 13: 9780224083867
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 72
• Illustrator: Blake Quentin