Esio Trot

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Mrs Silver lives in the apartment directly below Mr Hoppy. She doesn’t live alone like Mr Hoppy, she has her small pet tortoise called Alfie who lives on her balcony. Mrs Silver wishes that Alfie would grow a bit bigger as she has had him several years and has hardly grown so Mr Hoppy gives her some magic words to recite that he says will make Alfie double in size in only 2 months. But of course, that’s impossible, so Mr Hoppy has to come up with a plan, with the aid of a tortoise catcher and 140 tortoises, to make this happen and hopefully win Mrs Silver’s affections. But will he be able to do it, and will they live happily ever after? Esio Trot is a story about shy Mr Hoppy and his love for his neighbour, Mrs Silver. It was one of Roald Dahl's last stories and is dedicated to two of his grandchildren, Clover and Luke. First published in book form in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More before release in 1999 as a single title edition

This man crammed over a hundred tortoises into one small apartment for this grand scheme. And he only fed them lettuce. Those poor fellas. They need a nutritionally diverse diet and UV light. Y'know, I can remember Mrs Mendoza reading from Roald Dahl to the class just as though it were yesterday. I remember laughing. I remember all of us laughing. And I remember writing my own story. I called it Lucy and the Beggar! In it, I wanted my hair to grow as long as Rapunzel's hair. Mrs Mendoza was a great teacher. She was inspirational. And so was Roald Dahl. And so were his wonderful books. And don't you DARE say, "Oh it's just a children's book." Or "Kids don't know any better." Or "You can't hold YA fiction to the standards of…" Sweney, Mark (22 August 2013). "Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench to star in Roald Dahl adaptation for BBC". The Guardian . Retrieved 23 December 2013. In my version, in addition to buying a bunch of tortoises and building a tortoise-grabber, Mr Hoppy also goes to the grocery store and buys a bunch of vegetables. He then spends the rest of the week inventing recipes for tortoises and testing them on his new pets, figuring out which ones are the most delicious to tortoises.

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His downstairs neighbor, Mrs. Silver, has a pet tortoise that she adores. The tortoise is named Alfie, he lives on Mrs. Silver's balcony, and Mr. Hoppy is terribly jealous of him. It is left to Dench to be more vivid, footloose and flirtatious with various costumes that she wears as she bumps into Mr Hoppy in the lift. Mrs Silver has passions of her own that she wants to unleash. Summary: Esio Trot has the traditional Dahl hallmarks of eccentricity, surrealism, and humour. It is also missing the more radical elements in Dahl's work for older children - the naughty adult, the abuse of power, the questioning of authority. As such, it makes a great introduction to the great man for children of six or seven and up. Buy this one first. Then buy The Twits. Then buy the rest. They will all be favourites. I cannot think of an author for children so bold, so funny, so naughty, so rude or so exhilarating as Roald Dahl. If you would like your child to be a reader and a writer, you could do no better than to start buying his books. Esio Trot would make a lovely start.

Unlike other Dahl works (which often feature tyrannical adults and heroic/magical children), Esio Trot is the story of an ageing, lonely man (Mr Hoppy), trying to make a connection with a person that he has loved from afar (his widowed neighbour, Mrs Silver). [2] In this story, you have Mr. Hopper. He loves two things, the flowers he grew on his balcony, and his downstairs neighbor. Mrs. Silver. Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, barb.co.uk, shows Roald Dahl's Esio Trot in place 9 of most watched for week ending 4 January 2015. Accessed 23 December 2017 a b "BBC reveals new commissions at the Edinburgh Festival". BBC. 23 August 2013 . Retrieved 24 October 2013. One day, Mrs. Silver laments to Mr. Hoppy. (They talk while on their balconies. She with her turtle, him tending his garden.) She's had Alfie for eleven years, and he's still tiny. She wishes he would get bigger. "I'd give *anything* to make that happen," she says.Mrs Silver has a small pet tortoise, Alfie, who is the center of her world. One morning, Mrs Silver mentions to Mr Hoppy that even though she has owned Alfie for many years, he has only grown a tiny bit and has gained only 13 ounces (370g) in weight. She confesses that she wishes she knew of some way to make her little Alfie grow into a larger, more dignified tortoise. Mr Hoppy suddenly thinks of a way to give Mrs Silver her wish and win her heart.