Zeman actually combines two of Sindbad's voyages: the first voyage where he is shipwrecked after landing on a beautiful island, only to find it is the back of a gigantic and now furious whale; and the second where he uses his wits to escape from the Valley of Diamonds and its deadly snakes. Zeman weaves these separate voyages into a seamless whole; leaving out the uninteresting parts of each voyage. She has done an admirable job of keeping the first-person narrative fast-paced and exciting while maintaining a formality of speech that convincingly recreates Sindbad's ancient time.

Zeman has carefully composed the pictures in her trademark style of richly detailed drawings in earthy tones of browns and blues. For this story, because she has framed them with designs taken from Persian carpets, they have the appearance of intricate tapestries. An author's note provides the mixture of fact and fiction that characterizes Sindbad's story and gives readers a glimpse into the background research behind the pictures. The combined effect of lavish illustrations and an exciting adventure tale will captivate modern readers as it did the Sultan, and they will eagerly await the further voyages of Sindbad from Ludmila Zeman.

Highly Recommended.