Esio Trot Book

Three stars for marital implications and pet care.

The Fundamental Three Facts
1) Mr. Hoppy is in love with his neighbor, Mrs. Silver.
2) Mrs. Silver adores her pet tortoise, Alfie, but worries about how small he is.
3) Mr. Hoppy gives Mrs. Silver a "magic" spell. Aka, he kidnaps Alfie, slowly replacing him with larger tortoises (pretending all the while it's the same tortoise).

Ex-CUSE me??

Sure, it's cute to read about Mr. Hoppy wooing Mrs. Silver but don't forget, Mr. Hoppy deceives Mrs. Silver. And that poor unwitting widow marries the him.

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.

AND - poor Alfie. Alfie lived with Mrs. Silver for eleven years but as soon as Mr. Hoppy swaps him out, Mrs. Silver couldn't tell the difference. Does friendship mean nothing? Thank goodness Dahl includes a bit at the end where we find out that Alfie lived a very happy life with a little girl who loved him. Phew.

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