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Title details for Miguel's Brave Knight by Margarita Engle - Available

Miguel's Brave Knight

by Margarita Engle
Thom Rivera
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
This fictionalized first-person biography-in-verse of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra follows the early years of the child who grew up to pen Don Quixote, the first modern novel. The son of a gambling, vagabond barber-surgeon, Miguel looks to his own imagination for an escape from his family's troubles and finds comfort in his colorful daydreams. At a time when access to books was limited and imaginative books were considered evil, Miguel is inspired by storytellers and wandering actors who perform during festivals. He longs to tell stories of his own. When he is nineteen, four of his poems are published, launching the career of one of the greatest writers in the Spanish language.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    June 5, 2018

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781666597455
      • File size: 10482 KB
      • Duration: 00:21:50

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The early life of Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra is narrated in first-person poems by Thom Rivera, each one depicting a vivid snapshot of his childhood. Through his family's struggles with debt, young Miguel finds solace in his daydreams of a brave knight named Don Quixote who rides out on his steed to right the wrongs of this "terribly mixed-up world." Sounds of the horse whinnying and trotting bring his adventures to life, while classical guitar music and Rivera's accent heighten the Spanish ambiance. Listeners will feel like they are in sixteenth-century Spain. Notes at the end of the audiobook fill in the details of Cervantes's colorful life and explain the importance of his literary classic DON QUIXOTE. S.C. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 31, 2017
      Engle’s free-verse biography of Miguel Cervantes, the creator of Don Quixote, portrays the life of a boy in 16th-century Spain. The son of a compulsive gambler beset by debt collectors (“They even took our beds and plates./ Where will we sleep?/ How will we eat?”), Miguel imagines for himself a gallant savior, a theme Engle (Lion Island) returns to repeatedly: “A tale about a brave knight/ who will ride out on/ a strong horse/ and right/ all the wrongs/ of this confusing/ world.” Miguel’s father works as a barber until his demons get the better of him and he gambles everything away again. Poems about contemporaneous events—the plague, book burning—add depth to Engle’s representation of the era. Colón’s noble portraits, done in pen, ink, and watercolor, recall the work of classic popularizers such as N.C. Wyeth and the D’Aulaires. Even readers who don’t progress to Cervantes’s own work will come away with an indelible sense of the story and its creator. Author’s notes provide background material. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: Michelle Humphrey, Martha Kaplan Agency. Illustrator’s agency: Morgan Gaynin.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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