There are great deeds to be done, and I will do them...

Sancho Panza, probably complaining about something

I stumbled across today's book, Exploits of Don Quixote, when I was poking around Amazon looking for books by Edward Ardizzone, one of my favorite children's illustrators from the mid-20th century.  Amazingly, Ardizzone had no formal training as an artist, but still progressed from drawing sketches for the enjoyment of his family to illustrating (and occasionally authoring) dozens of classic children's books.  He frequently used watercolors, as you see above, but his most distinctive style is perhaps his line drawings, executed in pen with characteristic cross-hatching.

But, to return to the matter at hand, here we have Exploits of Don Quixote, translated and adapted for children by James Reeves in 1959.  In general, I have mixed feelings about children's adaptations of classic literature.  For one thing, they are frequently not very well-written.  This is especially the case when they are part of a series marketed to schools and libraries, such as the "Children's Illustrated Classics" or "Classic Starts" series.  Also, though of course the purpose is to whet the child's interest in the actual book, I fear that sometimes the child will decide that they have "already" read it and never bother with the original.  In my own family, we have had good luck reading aloud the unabridged classics (such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) that are often redacted for younger readers.

However, I believe Don Quixote is a good candidate for this sort of abridgment.  The original is several hundred pages, has inappropriate references, and is filled with multiple layers of irony that would never be understood by a child.  However, unlike, say, Hamlet, the surface story is easy for even a small child to appreciate.  Namely, a guy who thinks he's a medieval knight but actually isn't goes on a lot of slapstick adventures resulting from his misconception.  My children appreciate it as a comedy, giggling at Quixote's constant mishaps.  I, on the other hand, find it quite sad, and feel moved to pity at how he is constantly abused, mocked, and mistreated.  However, since critics have been arguing for 400 years whether Don Quixote is a tragedy or a comedy, I think this adaptation gets it just right.

Ages: 8-12

Rating: A