This week we read a tweet in which a guy shared some of his favorite El Vaixell de Vapor books from his childhood. These are the mythic Catalan children’s books (also in Spanish) for children from the iconic publisher Cruilla. Almost everyone from the 80s and 90s would instantly recognize the aesthetics of their covers, and probably automatically teleported to a couple of decades ago.
These are the books that got most of us into reading. So this is why if you ask someone from here about the books from the “Vaixell de vapor” publisher you might see a special reaction on their faces (probably a mix of nostalgia and happiness). I include myself in that huge group of kids that learned to love books thanks to this amazing publisher. It kind of shaped us to the point of becoming the bookworms we are today :-)
Catalan children’s books of the iconic collection El Vaixell de Vapor
El Vaixell de Vapor is a well-known collection from the Catalan publisher Cruilla, as we have pointed out. And one of the things that makes it special is its particular classification by colors, based on the recommended ages:
- White collection: +6 years old.
- Blue collection: +7 years old.
- Orange collection: +8 years old.
- Red collection: +10 years old.
Where to find these Catalan children’s books?
Here is one of our favorite options: Libraries! We love the ritual of going to the bookstore, but libraries are like treasure islands in the middle of the city ocean. Libraries also keep the “old style” books (the ones in the picture above), the iconic. They changed the design in the past years and now they look a bit different than they used to do:
And there is also the Spanish version El Barco de Vapor
Besides these Catalan children’s books, this collection is also available in Spanish: “El Barco de Vapor”. A great option if your kids love to read and are learning (or are already fluent) Spanish. We have one clear favorite in Spanish: El Pirata Garrapata (epic adventures ;))
Some of our favorite Catalan children’s book from El vaixell de vapor
There are hundreds and hundreds of books from this publisher. So here is a list of my favorite ones:
- L’autèntica Susi.
- Aventures amb el meu millor enemic.
- Els carrers d’en Bru.
- Els fills del bufador de vidre.
- Mare Lluna.
- Tanit.
Besides Catalan children’s books, there is also this other fun way to introduce the kids to the Catalan culture: through cartoons! Here is a list we wrote about our favorite Catalan cartoons.