Don Quixote and the Windmills [Hardcover]

Eric A. Kimmel (Author), Leonard Everett Fisher (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up

A self-proclaimed knight

Señor Quexada has read so many books about knights in shining armor that he thinks he is one. He gives himself a name more fitting for a knight -- Don Quixote -- and sets off one evening with his squire. At dawn they come across what Don Quixote recognizes as an army of monstrous giants. "Master!" cries Sancho Panza. "They are only windmills!" But Don Quixote knows what he has to do . . .

Don Quixote is the creation of the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Eric A. Kimmel skillfully and cleverly crystallizes the character, and with his powerful line and
vibrant color Leonard Everett Fisher completes the funny, loving portrait.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 2-4, younger for reading aloud. Cervantes' famous character gets new life in this adaptation, which zeroes in on the incident for which Don Quixote is perhaps best known--the one in which he tilts at windmills. The story begins as Senor Quexada goes mad, burying himself in the past and re-creating himself as Don Quixote, "a renowned knight." To that end, he puts on a suit of rusty armor, chooses a fat farmer as his squire and sweet Dulcinea as the object of his courtly love, and sets off. Spotting windmills in the distance, Don Quixote sees the structures as giants and refuses to be dissuaded about the objects' real nature. The telling here is staid, leaving the art to express most of the excitement. And it does. Veteran artist Fisher, known for his solid, impressive renderings, brings a suppleness to the artwork that captures a tale bubbling with action. The spreads in which Don Quixote becomes caught on the windmill's canvas and is pulled here and there are dramatically rendered, with perspective changing on every page. An informative author's note explains the story's history. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Kimmel's narrative maintains the wry tone of Cervantes's original...youngster's will find themselves rooting for The Knight of the Mournful Countenance...Fisher's signature illustrations are the ideal accompaniment to the sprightly text...An ideal appetite whetter." -- School Library Journal

"Veteran artist Fisher, known for his solid, impressive renderings, brings a suppleness to the artwork that captures a story bubbling with action." -- Booklist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (April 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374318255
• ISBN-13: 978-0374318253
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's all your kids need, April 5, 2011

By 

M. Heiss (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Don Quixote and the Windmills (Hardcover)

I feel about Don Quixote the way I feel about Gulliver - children need to know the story to relate to the metaphors like "tilting at windmills" or "lilliputian"... but they don't need to get bogged down reading the whole story. We read Cervantes's book during my junior year of high school, and really - all you need is this retelling by Eric A. Kimmel. Leonard Everett Fisher's illustrations put you right up close in the action.

And of course, the thrill of living a purposeful life, and the dissatisfaction with ordinary life: those are human universals.

Your kids will love it. Read it to them. You can laugh together.

Don't skip the author's note at the back - details of Cervantes' life. I didn't know he had been captured by pirates and sold into slavery in Algiers. Did you?


(Our favorite picture book retelling of Gulliver's Travels is by Margaret Hodges, "Gulliver in Lilliput")

If your children really love this story, try the illustrated book "The Knight and the Squire" by Argentina Palacios -- it gives more of the novel and is great for older children.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brief Review, January 9, 2007

By 

E. Branscomb (Greensboro, NC, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Don Quixote and the Windmills (Hardcover)

Bought this as a present for a knight-loving child who loves the book, the drawings are very well done and are very interesting to look at...

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A CLASSIC TALE BROUGHT TO VIVID LIFE, April 22, 2004

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Don Quixote and the Windmills (Hardcover)

A much sought after illustrator and writer Leonard Everett Fisher gives vivid life to this classic tale. The producer of over 200 children's books, his bold full-color pictures are unforgettable images of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

This hallmark of Spanish literature by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was written in 1605 and published to great acclaim. Obviously, it has endured for centuries and will for centuries to come.

As most know, it is a tale of a rather ordinary fellow who has immersed himself in so much literature about knighthood that he believes he can be a knight. The story has become a much heralded Broadway musical, and the stuff of which dreams are made.

Sancho Panza, a neighboring farmer, is the rotund companion chosen by Don Quixote. He, too, has become very much a part of our culture as a faithful follower.

Kimmel, speaking for Don Quixote closes this version of his story with "Our names and the stories of our matchless deeds will resound through the ages." And they have.

- Gail Cooke