Exploits of Don Quixote

by James Reeves, Edward Ardizzone (Illustrator), Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Book by James Reeves

Genres: Fiction

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

John Morris Reeves, later known as James Reeves, was an English writer principally known for his poetry, plays and contributions to children's literature and the literature of collected traditional songs. His published books include poetry, stories and anthologies for both adults and children. He was also well known as a literary critic and broadcaster.

He was born in Harrow, and educated at Stowe School and at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he read English and co-founded with Jacob Bronowski the literary magazine Experiment. He began his writing career as a poet in 1936, and in 1945 turned his attention to writing for young readers. His first book of poems for children, The Wandering Moon, appeared in 1950, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone, with whom Reeves sustained a lifelong friendship and collaboration. Reeves worked as a teacher until 1952, when his failing eyesight forced him to retire and he became a full-time writer and editor.

He succeeded Bronowski as editor of Epilogue: a critical summary (Riding, Graves). He was also an editor of some of the works of Robert Graves. His prose work for children commenced in 1956 and included short stories. "His real achievement, however, lies in his poetry, which is generally regarded as the best British 'serious' children's verse since Walter de la Mare - though the poems are usually far from serious in subject-matter."(Carpenter, Prichard)

- from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Matt Dillard · Rating 2 out of 5]

The good: I've finally read this classic, even if it is a children's version. I'm familiar now with the characters of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Don Quixote is an endearing character, if also cringe-worthy; the Michael Scott of Knights Errant. The beginning was humorous, and the last few chapters wrapped things up well.

The bad: Oh my, was this repetitive. After the first few adventures, everything was effectively the same story. The title could have been "The Exploit of Don Quixote, Ten Times". As noted above, the ending was entertaining and fulfilling, largely because it centered on Sancho Panza. It's quite possible I would enjoy the original edition far more. Concessions are made when adapting a novel for children.

I'm glad I read it. I've had this on the backburner for a long time, and I was pleased to receive it as a Christmas gift from someone who knows me well. If I come back to the story again someday, I'll target a richer translation instead of an adaptation.

[Peter Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick children’s retelling of the classic novel with nice illustrations.An easy book to read for those unwilling to read the full version,like me.I now know the essentials of the story.Fairly amusing in parts

[Lacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a solid children’s adaptation - but Don Quixote is not my jam.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Right up front the retelling author acknowledges that he has needed to adapt and abridge the original in order to meet the needs of his young readers and sought to maintain the spirit as virtues of the original. It certainly is a fun read overall so far, the world Quixote lives in is adamantly romantic and full of hope, diligence, and a real sense of duty, however mundane the objects of his honor are. Upon finishing the book, my impression is still that it is a delightfully fine retelling that was as entertaining as it was bittersweet. Quixote stands for so many ideals and you can’t help rooting for him and Sancho even though almost every single misadventures ends up with them bruised, sick, battered, needing to recompense their destruction of goods, humiliated, or outright elaborately lied to for the sport and amusement of others, as in my favorite chapter, Governor Sancho. I added the more unabridged Exploits to my read pile—I’m very curious to know how much of the flavor this retelling retains that is true to an unabridged version. At face value, definitely recommend. This would be appropriate as a read aloud to 8yo and up, it really reminded me of Pinocchio in many ways and I think the kids would have such fun with this story too.

Ccs: ‘Ass’ is used exclusively in its original context for Sancho’s donkey. Since Quixote resolves to be a knight in a time when there aren’t knights anymore, there’s loads of ridiculous fighting. The vast majority is Quixote instigating fights with regular people and subsequently getting completely whooped himself, his ‘squire’ Sancho and his horse included in some of the beatings as well. On one particular occasion, he charged into battle against a herd of sheep and outright kills/wounds seven of them. It started humorously, but even Sancho cries out against Quixote for his murdering madness against harmless sheep. A servant girl who is a little person is referred to as a dwarf. People are ‘slaves’ as an insult. Many people intentionally deceive Sancho into thinking he was a governor, and some conspire to trick Quixote into retiring from knight errancy.