Illustrations by Eva Bednářová for 'Rikali Mi Leni' by Zdeňka Bezděková (Prague, 1967)
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First published in 1948 (revised 1959), Bezděková's Rikali Mi Leni was translated into many languages and seems to have been compulsory reading for many young adults. I was surprised to discover while putting this post together that it was translated into English in 1973. Titled They Called Me Leni, it included these 1967 illustrations by Eva Bednářová.
The synopsis: "Following World War II a little German girl begins to suspect that she may have other origins as she tries to reconcile the many discrepancies of her life at home and at school." And from Kirkus: "Leni's vague memories of another home, and a suspicion that she was not really wanted by her mother, crystallize abruptly when she receives a note at school calling her a Czech bastard. The scraps of her past that appear to Leni in her dreams -- a red-skirted peasant doll, eating strawberries, the name of her old pet dog -- are affecting details in this simple fictionalization of the plight of actual Czech orphans clandestinely adopted by German families during the war and later repatriated."
About the illustrator, from my previous post "Button Tales":Eva Bednářová (1937–1986) was a prolific Czech illustrator who won both BIB and IBBY awards (major illustration awards). I haven't found a bio for her in English, but this Czech page includes a bibliography…I think just one book featuring Bednářová's work made it into English [ed: I was wrong]: Chinese Fairy Tales (Artia 1969, 1970s in English on Amazon). For the same Artia fairy tale series, she illustrated stories by Perrault and d'Aulnoy in 1978 (cheap French reprint here; will feature it someday) and stories from Tibet in 1974.
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classic minimal binding design![]()
detail
See the archives for more Czech books, including two illustrated by Bednářová.
This post first appeared on April 2, 2015 on 50 Watts
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First published in 1948 (revised 1959), Bezděková's Rikali Mi Leni was translated into many languages and seems to have been compulsory reading for many young adults. I was surprised to discover while putting this post together that it was translated into English in 1973. Titled They Called Me Leni, it included these 1967 illustrations by Eva Bednářová.
The synopsis: "Following World War II a little German girl begins to suspect that she may have other origins as she tries to reconcile the many discrepancies of her life at home and at school." And from Kirkus: "Leni's vague memories of another home, and a suspicion that she was not really wanted by her mother, crystallize abruptly when she receives a note at school calling her a Czech bastard. The scraps of her past that appear to Leni in her dreams -- a red-skirted peasant doll, eating strawberries, the name of her old pet dog -- are affecting details in this simple fictionalization of the plight of actual Czech orphans clandestinely adopted by German families during the war and later repatriated."
About the illustrator, from my previous post "Button Tales":Eva Bednářová (1937–1986) was a prolific Czech illustrator who won both BIB and IBBY awards (major illustration awards). I haven't found a bio for her in English, but this Czech page includes a bibliography…I think just one book featuring Bednářová's work made it into English [ed: I was wrong]: Chinese Fairy Tales (Artia 1969, 1970s in English on Amazon). For the same Artia fairy tale series, she illustrated stories by Perrault and d'Aulnoy in 1978 (cheap French reprint here; will feature it someday) and stories from Tibet in 1974.
endpapers
classic minimal binding design
detail
See the archives for more Czech books, including two illustrated by Bednářová.
This post first appeared on April 2, 2015 on 50 Watts
