Sunce i more: Doživljaji iz djetinjstva

Sun and Sea – Childhood Experiences was published in 1941 in Zagreb by Matica Hrvatska, as part of the Youth Library of Matica Hrvatska, in the first round of that library launched with the aim of publishing quality domestic literature for young people.

Through a series of autobiographically colored stories, Ljubo Brgić evokes growing up by the sea. The focus is on children's experiences, encounters with nature, fishermen, ships and the coastal landscape. Instead of a complex plot, the book brings a series of episodes connected by the shared experience of growing up and gradually getting to know the world.

Brgić's style is characterized by simplicity, clarity and immediacy. The book was written for younger readers, but thanks to its autobiographical tone and vivid descriptions, it retains its documentary and literary value. It is especially interesting as a depiction of life on the Croatian coast in the period immediately before the great war and social changes.

The first edition was illustrated by Petar Franjić (1904–1987), a Croatian painter, graphic artist and pedagogue associated with the artistic circle around the Zemlja association. His illustrations accompany the text unobtrusively, but effectively, emphasizing the atmosphere of children's adventures and the natural environment. The inclusion of an established visual artist testifies to the efforts of Matica Hrvatska to ensure a high level of graphic and visual equipment for youth publications.

Today, Sun and Sea is interesting as an example of Croatian youth literature from the first half of the 20th century and as a valuable record of childhood and life along the Adriatic. Since relatively little biographical information has been preserved about Ljubo Brgić himself, the book also represents an important trace of an author who remained on the fringes of literary history, but who left an authentic testimony to a time and place.