Dominus Quixotus: Eques Ultimus

by Karen Rowan, David B. Ring, Pol (Illustrator)

Don Quijote, el último caballero is a novel for intermediate and advanced beginners. It uses a vocabulary of fewer than 200 different Spanish words to tell a 1,400-word story in the present tense and the same story also in the past tense. It is repetitive and simple and uses many cognates to make the story comprehensible to adults and children. The stories are intentionally written to be acted out in a class, but also to serve as independent reading in either the present or the past tense. Don Quijote, el último caballero is an amusing, ironic and at the same time tragic story. Don Quijote is an ordinary Spaniard with an extraordinary imagination who believes that he must achieve great feats to honor a lady. He falls in love with a waitress that he considers to be the ideal lady. He and his companion Sancho Panza have adventures in which Don Quijote is always mistaken about what he finds along the way while Sancho sees what is really there. The story is based on Miguel de Cervantes The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, published in the 17th century. Many consider it to be the best book of fiction every written.

Genres: Spanish Literature

66 pages, Paperback

First published August 4, 2014

Reviews

[Kayellison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book based on the classic Don Quixote story is organized in two parts, first telling the story in the present tense, and telling it again in the past tense. Each of the short chapters is immediately followed by a specialized glossary, not just with single words in alphabetical order, but phrases in order as they come in the chapter. I have never had such an easy way to practice Spanish! I liked reading a classic piece of Spanish literature while practicing Spanish at my intermediate reading level.

[Laura Rodríguez Custodio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yo no he leído este libro exactamente, sino otro del último caballero andante el Quijote del autor Alberto Casas. Un hombre onubense de mi ciudad y estoy registrando esta lectura mediante este libro que es el que más parecido la carátula y el título he encontrado. Hago buena valoración de ese libro, este hombre utiliza un vocabulario técnico, es un libro ameno y no excesivamente largo y se ve que ha entendido bien lo que es escribir literatura.

[Katrina Tangen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very short. A present tense version and a past tense version are both included--each one is only 26 pages (including chapter glossaries). But a nice introduction to the story and physically it's a well-designed book with a large font and good illustrations.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very quick read super simple version of Don Quixote but, to be honest, I wasn't a huge fan. This could've been because the story was so short and simple but it just seemed incredibly abbreviated to me. For a student it definitely gives them a basic overview of the classic.

[Ella Penel · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 ⭐️ Gelezen voor de les Frans. Ik vond het oké, maar heel simpel geschreven.

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story, good vocabulary. I like the rendition of the story in present and past tense.

[Alexa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this for school. Why did they have to kill him off at the end? Like there was no point in that, probably just to add the drama. Now I gotta go take a test on it :(

[Gary Paulson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Designed to be a fairly basic book with simplified vocabulary but I had to look up quite a few words. Probably because retelling a story so the author could not write around necessary vocabulary.

I wish there was more story. A lot of wasted space with vocabulary listed after each chapter as well as at the end of the book.

Still, this book will stay in my "Comprehensible Spanish" book shelf that I will continue to read through until I can read the book without translating it into English while I read.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful abridgment and translation of Cervantes' classic Spanish stories into Latin. Lots of help provided for beginners. I really loved this little book!