Silver’s husband-the “love of her life” one can naturally assume-and his role in her life has been taken over by a tortoise. Instead, what young readers are confronted with when they open the cover of Esio Trot is a lesson in the perversity of romance. Outrageous villainy is also absent from the narrative. Stories for kids typically rely upon the introduction of something beyond the natural world-magic or other aspects which could only exist in the imagination-whereas this story could, though highly unlikely, actually take place in reality. They are usually about child characters while children in this story are of no real significance whatever. This is a story that seems “backwards” when it comes to the conventions of kiddie lit. The title of the story is actually “tortoise” spelled backwards and sliced in half and it is entirely appropriate. Especially not children’s stories accompanied by cartoonish drawings and especially not when many of those illustrations are populated by an abundance of tortoises. The world of children’s literature is not exactly overflowing with such tales. Why? Because it is a story about two older characters falling in love and living happily ever after. And yet, hard as it may be to believe, Esio Trot easily qualifies as one of Roald Dahl’s most revolutionary books when it comes to challenging conventions and traditions of children’s literature. Even though it does feature nearly one-hundred-fifty tortoises, none of them stand out, act unlike real-life tortoises or have a distinctive imaginative personality made possible through anthropomorphizing. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.Įsio Trot features no chocolatiers bordering on the insane or crafty foxes outwitting farmers nor are there any witches, gremlins or crocodiles to speak of. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

Esio Trot by Roald Dahl