• Age: 8 to 12
• Grade: 3 to 7

Perhaps the best known of the Tales of the Thousand and One Nights are those about Sindbad the Sailor. For centuries, people have been fascinated by the stories of a simple, sometimes confused, sailor who mistakes a giant whale for a lovely island and the egg of the Roc (a bird so huge that she can carry an elephant in her talons) for a mountain. Sindbad encounters many dangers, but he prevails in this irresistible trilogy, thanks to nothing but his own wits. Ludmila Zeman’s exciting text and lavish illustrations have made Sindbad, Sindbad in the Land of Giants, and Sindbad’s Secret an international and critical success.

Ludmila Zeman's profile page

Accomplished filmmaker, author, and illustrator LUDMILA ZEMAN was born in the Czech Republic. She is the daughter of well-known Czech film director Karel Zeman. Ludmila worked on major motion pictures early in her career, and she went on to create her own short animated films including the award-winning Lord of the Sky for the National Film Board of Canada. Besides films, Ludmila’s storytelling talent and unique design has been expressed in countless children’s picture books. She’s received numerous awards as the author and illustrator of the Gilgamesh and Sindbad trilogies and The First Red Maple Leaf. Ludmila received a Governor General’s Award for Illustration for her book, The Last Quest of Gilgamesh. Ludmila lives in Montreal, Quebec.

“Whispering mysteries, songs of the ages, the wonders of wandering —they’re all in Ludmila Zeman’s illustrated versions of Sindbad, Sindbad’s Secret and Sindbad in the Land of Giants… These sumptuously illustrated books, their pages glowing with crimson, turquoise, amber and gold, … present a fantastical world of monsters, frantic escapes and feats of daring —all of which our hero Sindbad endures with glorious success.“The classic The Tales of the Thousand and One Nights is a potent source for today’s epic fantasy.”
—The Toronto Star