Sections: Information | Description | Awards | Fun Stuff | Teacher Ideas | Covers | Penguin Readers, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Korean, Norwegian, Russian, Slovakian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese, and Welsh Covers
Information
Information on identifying editions is from Richard Walker’s “Roald Dahl – A Guide to Collecting His First Editions”.
- First editions:
- Jonathan Cape, 1990, UK.
- Illustrated by: Quentin Blake
- To identify: Used a standard single statement (‘First published’ followed by the date with later printings stated underneath) and published with a jacket priced at £6.95.
- Viking, 1990, USA.
- Illustrated by: Quentin Blake
- To identify: Used a number line and published with a jacket priced at $14.95.
- Jonathan Cape, 1990, UK.
- Related books:
- Movies:
- Esio Trot (TV movie - 2015)
- Audio Books:
- Esio Trot read by Quentin Blake
- Esio Trot read by full cast
- Esio Trot read by Michael Palin
- Esio Trot read by Geoffrey Palmer
- Esio Trot & The Minpins read by Joanna Lumley
- Fantastic Mr. Fox and Other Animal Stories read by Chris O'Dowd, Geoffrey Palmer, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Martin Jarvis
- Roald Dahl Audio Books (10 CD Collection) read by Simon Callow, Miriam Margolyes, Geoffrey Palmer, James Bolam, Andrew Sachs, June Whitfield, Timothy West, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Martin Jarvis
- The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me & Esio Trot read by Hugh Laurie and Quentin Blake
- Un Amour de Tortue read by François Morel
- TV Shows:
- Jackanory (1965)
- Buy this book:
Important note: From 2022 onwards, Puffin has edited selected Dahl books to remove sensitive language and insert new sentences not written by Dahl. If you would prefer to read the original text, ensure you get a copy published before 2022 or one of the “Classic Collection” published by Penguin.
Description
An ancient spell, 140 tortoises, and a little bit of magic…
Mr. Hoppy is in love with his neighbor, Mrs. Silver; but she is in love with someone else—Alfie, her pet tortoise. With all her attention focused on Alfie, Mrs. Silver doesn’t even know Mr. Hoppy is alive. And Mr. Hoppy is too shy to even ask Mrs. Silver over for tea. Then one day Mr. Hoppy comes up with a brilliant idea to get Mrs. Silver’s attention. If Mr. Hoppy’s plan works, Mrs. Silver will certainly fall in love with him. After all, everyone knows the way to a woman’s heart is through her tortoise.
Awards
- Smarties Award (1990)
Fun Stuff
Merchandise
Teacher Ideas
- Esio Trot – Classroom Activities
- Includes ideas for studying backwards writing
- Esio Trot – Tortoise
- PDF with activities related to identifying patterns and relationships involving numbers or shapes
Covers
Penguin Readers Covers
Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. Simplified story texts are combined with beautiful original illustrations for students aged 7 and above.