Linda Zeman-Spaleny was born in the Czech Republic and came to Canada at the age of twelve with her sister and parents. She has degrees in both psychology and law, and she went on to work as an assistant in a social psychology lab, researching early childhood development. After completing law school, Linda was admitted to the Bar of Ontario and became an associate lawyer at a Toronto firm. But Linda was born into a family of film workers, and throughout her pursuits, creativity and artistic expression remained her true passion. She’s worked as a freelance photographer and a photo editor, and she has assisted in the writing of her mother’s books. She is a member of the Writers Guild of Canada. She co-wrote with her mother, a feature film, Gilgamesh the King. Later, she directed a short documentary about the pre-production of the film. Linda lives in Toronto with her husband, Mark, and daughter, Helena.
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, all published by Tundra Books. In 1995, Ludmila received a Governor General’s Award for Illustration for her book, The Last Quest of Gilgamesh. Ludmila now lives in Montreal, Quebec. For more information about Ludmila Zeman, please visit her website at www.ludmilazeman.com.
Gr 2–4—This story is based on an animated film of the same name (The National Film Board of Canada, 1992) and is purportedly derived from the folklore of the North Pacific Coast (no sources are cited).When some boys foolishly kill a raven, the rest of the ravens blot out the sun, leaving the world in darkness. A wise elder tells the villagers that the Lord of the Sky is their only hope, and one brave boy makes the journey. Eventually, with the aid of a scraggly fledgling, he is able to reach the Thunderbird, getting his help and thus letting the sun shine through once more. The artwork, done by one of the original filmmakers, attempts to convey a movie in book form. Zeman lays out the scenes in horizontal strips across black spreads, framing them in dots to resemble sprocket holes. The device is likely to cause confusion on those pages where two narrow picture bands run parallel with bits of text between. The art draws the eye across the running view, but the story doesn't actually flow that way; events occur on the top and bottom of each single page rather than across the spread. The "script" is told in simple, staccato sentences that are by turns lofty, sentimental, and even contradictory. The presentation lacks the clarity and directness of a folktale though certainly both text and pictures have energy and some dramatic points. The author works to a didactic purpose, spelling out an environmental lesson for today's children. The award-winning film was done in puppet animation and may be well worth adding to library collections. The book version gropes for a beginning but includes some blood and thunder that might grab fans of graphic novels.—Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston
[Page 99]. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
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