Later work by Roald Dahl (Esio Trot - Roald Dahl)

Member Name: tomflint

Product:	Esio Trot - Roald Dahl
Date:	04/09/09 (63 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gently amusing.

Disadvantages: Not one of his 'classics'...

'Esio Trot' is a children's story written by Roald Dahl. It was first published in 1990 and was one of his final works before his death at the end of that year.

Whilst tidying out the small storage room in my house I came across my collection of Roald Dahl books neatly stacked in a box. As a child I loved these books and particularly 'Danny the Champion Of the World' and 'Boy' were read numerous times. 'Esio Trot' was not so familiar to me, I noticed the spine had not been broken and that I had never read this one. Within half an hour I had finished it, and although not a classic, it has enough of the characteristic Dahl charm to appeal to fans.

The story concerns shy retired batchelor Mr Hoppy, who has an undisclosed love for widower Mrs Silver who lives in the apartment downstairs. Both apartments have balconies and Mr Hoppy looks down from his balcony to Mrs Silver's longing to tell her of his love for her. She is much more interested in her Tortoise which she feels is too small. Mr Hoppy hatches a cunning plan by telling her to whisper some magic words to the Tortoise and by doing this the animal will grow to double it's size, the words are a series of words spelt backwards, including Tortoise [Esio Trot].

This is of course a lie, but after promising this, Mr Hoppy realises that there is a good chance Mrs Silver will consider a proposal of marriage as she offers to be 'his slave', if he can make her Tortoise larger. Mr Hoppy goes to a series of petshops buying up lots of Tortoises of different sizes to swap the real Tortoise with. Each week Mrs Silver whispers the 'magic words' to her Tortoise and then when she goes out to work Mr Hoppy [who has fashioned a large grabbing device] lowers down the bigger Tortoise and takes up the previous one making Mrs Silver believe her animal has grown as a result of the spell.

This process is done in a way that is not too obvious, it takes 8 weeks for the Tortoise to reach double the size of the original one by lowering 8 Tortoises of greater size. When she finally weighs her Tortoise after 8 weeks, Mrs Silver is delighted and is very happy with Mr Hoppy accepting his proposal of marriage.

Like any Roald Dahl story, its a fantasy for kids and is more about being amusing than anything else. Quentin Blake contributes his excellent drawings to the story and with these on most pages the text is very quick to read. I think a child would probably have this read in a couple of 'silent reading' sessions at school. Its probably aimed at 7-8 year olds, but that doesn't mean adults can't read it!.

Roald Dahl was a large part of my childhood and it was fun to read a story of his that I was not familiar with. This is not up there with the classics such as 'BFG' , 'The Witches', 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory' and 'Danny The Champion Of The World', the creativity was slightly lacking here. Having someone say 'Grow Tortoise, eat food' and spell it backwards is not the most inspired magic spell ever written, but the absurdity of the story and mild innuendo will amuse children and adults alike.

Summary: Tortoise