Pričanje crvčka moreplovca
A children's novel intended for children aged 8 to 12. Here the author continues the theme of her debut, The Childhood of the Captain's Wind (1964), focusing on the poetic and imaginative childhood of a boy in a small Dalmatian coastal town.
The main character is a little boy named Belizar, a "sea cricket" - a curious and mischievous little soul who tells stories about everyday adventures on the seashore. The book is a connected thread of storytelling: the boy sits by the sea and "tells stories" like a cricket, intertwining reality with imagination. Each short story (e.g. about fishing with his grandfather, secret walks around the harbor, meeting a sea wanderer, making an improvised boat from an old riverbed, night fishing under the stars or meeting sea monsters in his imagination) reveals a love of the sea, friendship, freedom and boyish mischief.
Through humorous and touching episodes, Katalinić critically but gently comments on growing up, the loss of innocence and the connection between man and nature. The illustrations (by Josip Zanki in the first edition or Diana Kosec-Bourek in later ones) enhance the visual imagination. As part of the "Squirrels" series, the book (128 pages, hardcover) became a classic of 20th-century Croatian children's literature, with five editions. Today, it is a sought-after antiquarian copy, praised for its subtle ecological message and universal theme of childhood.
Two copies are available
