Čenda the Spider’s Adventure

Original title: Dobrodružství pavouka Čendy

“The story of a miraculous rescue,” says Czech author and illustrator Pavel Čech, “in which a cuckoo saves a little spider from a thief, and the spider later helps the cuckoo escape the ruins of an old house, came to me spontaneously. Inspiration can strike anywhere — sometimes from a single overheard phrase. That’s how Čenda the Spider began. I imagined an old cuckoo clock, with a spider living inside its cracked wooden case among gears, springs, and pendulums — spinning his web as if time itself had no power over him.”

Readers often compare Čech’s illustrations to those of Yuri Norstein or Shaun Tan — perhaps too boldly. Norstein’s imagery grows from folk tradition, Tan’s from surrealism, while Čech’s world balances between the two. His pages are filled with misty, dreamlike backgrounds populated by quirky, endearing characters. There’s a hint of mystery and a touch of steampunk in his style, which adds depth and quiet wonder to the story. Like most of his picture books, Čenda the Spider’s Adventure was painted in oils, with a simple layout: large full-page illustrations and short passages of text below.

Čech lives and works in Brno, Czech Republic. Although he never trained as a professional artist — he studied to be a mechanic, repaired cars for five years, and later served as a firefighter — since the early 2000s he has devoted himself entirely to painting and children’s book illustration. His picture books and comics, first published in 2002, have become beloved classics in his home country and beyond.