Miguel's Brave Knight by Margarita Engle - ADVISABLE

Miguel’s Brave Knight: Young Cervantes and His Dream of DonQuixote by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Raul Colon.  PICTURE BOOK  Peachtree, 2017.  $18. 9781561458561  

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3); MS - ADVISABLE; HS – OPTIONAL  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE  

Miguel de Cervantes grew up in a home with an alcoholic father, which caused difficulties for his poor family.  To cope with these conditions, Miguel would imagine a brave knight who did daring deeds.  The brave knight had a frumpy friend who would ride by his side and Miguel would smile as he thought of his two imaginary characters.  When Miguel grew up he was encouraged by a teacher to write, and he eventually put his characters to paper using the language of common people and Don Quixote soon became a folk hero.  

This is a very basic look at Miguel de Cervantes the author of Don Quixote.  The text is written in poetic form and the illustrations are fantastic.  At the end of the book there is more information about Cervantes.  I loved this book, but I have a solid understanding of Don Quixote.  Young readers who pick up this book probably won’t have the prior knowledge to connect Quixote to this story, but on its own the story is about a boy who uses his imagination to cope with disappointment and that’s a valuable lesson.  This would be fun to use in a classroom alongside the telling of Don Quixote.  

C. Peterson