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Welcome to the "Esio Trot" page.
Here you can find information about this childrens book!

Webpage created by: Diego Silva

Personal opinion

I think "Esio Trot" is a good book to childrens and people who are learning english because is short, funny, easy to understand, with a good estructure, with few characters and with a lot of pictures.

I recommended this book to childrens because was made it by Roald Dalh, a nice author of UK literature.

An the last, Thanks for Benjamín Katz for lend me this book!

Setting

This Story happens in the UK,
in a small flat and in a pet-shop, in the same country.
Between 1900-1920

Characters

Mr. Hoppy: He is a shy and old man who lives alone in his small flat. He had two loves: his flowers and -in secret- Mrs. Silver.

Mrs Silver: She is an old woman, who lives below Mr. Hoppy's department. She live with her pet, Alfie, a tortoise.

Alfie: Is a small tortosie with a darkish shell. Alfie is the pet of Mrs. Silver and she gave all her love to Alfie.

Summary

This story is about a shy old man, Mr Hoppy, who lives in a small flat alone with his flowers. Everyday, he goes to his balcony and listen to the woman, Mrs Silver, living below him with her turtle and pet, Alfie. The old man wanted to marry the old woman but he was to shy to even start a conversation with her. One day, he musters up enough courage and asks her how her turtle was doing. She replies saying that she is very worried because it is not growing. Mr Hoppy suddenly thinks of a way to give Mrs. Silver her wish and (he hopes!) win her affection. Mr Hoppy tells Mrs Silver that he - in fact - does know of a way to make a tortoise grow bigger. He writes the following words on a slip of paper, and lowers it down to Mrs. Silver:

ESIO TROT, ESIO TROT,
TEG REGGIB REGGIB!
EMOC NO, ESIO TROT,
WORG PU, FFUP PU, TOOHS PU!
GNIRPS PU, WOLB PU, LLEWS PU!
EGROG! ELZZUG! FFUTS! PLUG!
TUP NO TAF, ESIO TROT, TUP NO TAF!
TEG NO, TEG NO, ELBBOG DOOF!

Mr. Hoppy explains that these magic words when whispered in Alfie's ear three times a day, will cause Alfie to grow bigger and bigger. In reality, the magic words are merely ordinary words written backwarsd.When Mrs Silver demands to know what the words mean, Mr Hoppy explains that tortoises are backwards animals, so they only listen to words spoken backwards. Mrs. Silver is doubtful, but agrees to try.
Over the next 2 days he visited each pet-shop and choose many tortoises of all shapes and sizes and he brings all the tortoises back to his apartment.
Next, Mr Hoppy builds a special tool to help him snatch Alfie.
The following day, when Mrs. Silver leaves for work, Mr. Hoppy selects a tortoise from his living room that weighs exactly 15 ounces. He carefully picks Alfie up from the lower balcony, and exchanges him with the new tortoise. When Mrs. Silver returns home, she faithfully whispers the magic words in Alfie's ear, but does not notice that an exchange has been made.
For the 8 following weeks, Mr Hoppy leans over his balcony with his special tool to exchange "Alfie" with another slightly larger tortoise. With a weight of 27 ounces, the last tortoise is too big to get into Mr Hoppy's house, and Mrs Silver finally notices the difference. She is so happy that she invites Mr Hoppy to her apartment to hold "Alfie".
Mrs Silver now wants Alfie to be a little smaller because she doesn't want to make a bigger opening for his house. Mr Hoppy gives her some new magic words, and Mrs Silver agrees to try them for a day. After several attempts, Mr Hoppy exchanges "Alfie" with a tortoise that goes perfectly through the house's door.
Mrs Silver is so delighted with Alfie's response that she invites Mr Hoppy over for a cup of tea. He finally plucks up the courage to ask Mrs Silver to marry him, and she accepts him.
Mr Hoppy takes all his superfluous tortoises and gives them away free of charge. A little girl, Roberta Squibb, adopts the original Alfie, and he lives happily in his garden. After Alfie reaches 30, his size finally doubles.

Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter, born in Wales of Norwegian parents, who rose to prominence in the 1940s with works for both children and adults, and became one of the world's bestselling authors. His most popular books include The Twits, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The Witches and Esio Trot.

For more information you can visit Roald Dahl page: http://www.roalddahl.com/

illustrator

Illustrator: Quentin Blake

Quentin Saxby Blake (born December 16, 1932 in Sidcup) is a British cartoonist, illustrator and children's book author, most notable for his illustrations in books written by Roald Dahl.

Blake was educated at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School. He read English Literature at Downing College, Cambridge (1953-6) and later studied at the Chelsea School of Art. He undertook a postgraduate teaching diploma at the Institute of Education before working at the Royal College of Art.

Blake gained a reputation as a fantastic and humorous illustrator of over 300 children's books. In particular, his illustrations of Roald Dahl's stories brought him international fame.

Author

Author: Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter, born in Wales of Norwegian parents, who rose to prominence in the 1940s with works for both children and adults, and became one of the world's bestselling authors. His most popular books include The Twits, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The Witches and Esio Trot.

Schools: Llandaff Cathedral School, St Peter's, Repton.

Jobs: Shell Oil Company representative in East Africa, RAF fighter pilot in Second World War, air attaché, author.

For more information you can visit Roald Dahl page: http://www.roalddahl.com/