Walt Disney's Zorro

by Steve Frazee

This adaptation of the 1950s Walt Disney television series ZORRO, featuring the character created by Johnston McCulley, tells of Zorro's origins and his battle of wits and swords with the corrupt comandante Capitan Monastario.

Genres: Adventure, Fiction

282 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Steve Frazee was born in Salida, Colorado. He began making major contributions to Western pulp magazines with stories set in the American West as well as a number of North-Western tales published in Adventure. Not surprisingly, many of Frazee's novels have become major motion pictures.

Reviews

[John Peel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novelization based on the Disney TV series "Zorro", this book is adapted from the first 13 episodes of season 1. It's a fun romp, and Steve Frazee has a good time with it. California in 1820 is under Spanish rule, and the new military commander of Los Angeles is a nasty, greedy man who bends the law to enrich himself. Don Diego de la Vega plays the scholar and fop to hide his activities as Zorro - the Fox! Enjoy!

[Sandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book I inherited from my Dad and read until the cover fell off. I never watched the TV series that the book was based on but that did not diminish my enjoyment of the story.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book!!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was just like watching the old t.v. show from when I was a kid.

[Hugh Atkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started collecting these Whitman Classics. I love their design and appearance. I’m collecting these ones from the ‘50s and ‘60s that have the slick, shiny covers, not the older ones with the traditional paper book jackets (although I have a couple of those as well). I really like what Whitman was doing—publishing classic books and marketing them to young readers to encourage them to read. I am reading the books I collect, if I haven’t already read them. This Zorro book was a typical Zorro adventure, much like an episode of the old television show might have been.

[Vanessa Dargain · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a one man army Don Diego de la Vega uses optical illusion , deception and good swordsmanship to
end King Ferdinand's VII cruel appointee's ( commandante Monastario ) control over pueblo nuestra de la reina in southern California during 1820 .

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a children's adaptation of a Zorro tv show. That being said, it's a fun story. Much of it was pretty obviously just retelling of episodes, especially some of the fight scenes. However, it was still a fun read. Not great literature, but fun action reading. Now i need to go practice fencing.

[Alena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This classic board-cover book -- a typical specimen of the mid-20th-century Whitman children's series, which also included such greats as Lassie, Roy Rogers and the Bobbsey Twins -- is a great nostalgia trip for those who watched the 1950s TV series or love the Zorro character/legend in general. (As a long-time masked-hero devotee who faithfully watched Zorro reruns all the way through college, I fit in both categories.)

Although this "Authorized TV Edition" is a direct scene-for-scene adaptation of the television series (and therefore not very suspenseful for those who saw the original show), it still makes for pleasant escapist fare. Frazee's writing, though clearly intended for young readers, is not so simplistic that adults can't enjoy the adventure as well.

Frazee, it is worth noting, was a prolific pulp writer who published scores of novels and short stories for adults, in addition to a long list of children's titles that included books in the Lassie and Walt Disney series. A trace of that action-thriller flavor carries over into his children's books as well; perhaps that is why they are still so much fun to read!

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

ZORRO by Steve Frazee is based on the Disney television series of the late fifties starring Guy Williams as Zorro. The book is a novelization of the first thirteen episodes where Don Diego returns from Spain, after three years, at his father's request.

A new military commandante, Monastario, was cracking down on the Dons and the common folk for some reason.

We see the beginnings of Zorro, how Diego adopts a meek persona to hide his true nature, His only confidant is the mute Bernardo, his loyal servant.

Enjoyed this one.

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This blast from my childhood past does not hold up very well, but then revisiting the favorites of my youth seldom do. The story eventually becomes tedious and the prose has a much lard as Sgt. Garcia, but there is one wonderful incident after Zorro is captured that you will not predict, so I will not spoil it. The illustrations seemed wonderful when I was a child but now seem sketchy and lack compelling compositions. A good book such as this should be fun at every age, but this one is past its sell-by date.

[Ronald]

possibly read in spring 1967

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

read during school year of 1965-66, possibly in spring