The Letter Writers: Steamboat Award 2019
There are publishers within the world of children’s and youth literature that have been publishing books for this audience for many years. One of them and which, in turn, is among the best known, is SM.
The Steamboat Collection
One of the best known collections within the SM publishing house is El Barco de Vapor. This collection is aimed mainly at children between 6 and 12 years old, and began publishing books in 1978.
With the passage of time and years, the collection has not stopped growing, thus becoming a benchmark within children’s and youth literature, both nationally and internationally.
The large volume of books that it houses, as well as the wide age range for which they are intended, has made the collection divided into colors, depending on the age at which it is intended:
- The white series is intended for those children who are beginning to read. His texts are characterized by having simple vocabulary and short lines. Recommended for children ages six and up.
- The blue series is intended for those children who are already readers. The texts are short, with large print and several illustrations throughout the story. Recommended for children seven years and older.
- The orange series is intended for those children who begin to read longer texts. The main themes of these are adventure and humor so that the reading hooks the reader. Recommended for children from eight years old.
- Lastly, the red series is intended for expert readers. Recommended for children from ten years old. Novels with current themes are part of this collection.
The Steam Boat Award
The El Barco de Vapor Awards have awarded an annual book since the collection was created. Each year, a book with a totally different theme from the previous one wins the award. On this occasion, and as we have previously talked about other award-winning books, we will focus on the winner last year 2019.
The Letter Writers , 2019 Steam Boat Award
The winning book on this occasion was The Letter Writers , by the author Beatriz Osés and the illustrator Kike Ibáñez. It is included in the orange series, intended for children from the age of eight, and the text and illustrations in the book are downright fantastic.
Quite in contrast to what happened years ago with the children’s books in this collection, the SM publishing house has known the importance of illustrations in children’s books for the development of imagination in children. For this reason, at present, there are numerous illustrations that are included in the books of this collection; a fantastic success.
What will we find in history?
It is not surprising that this fantastic book has been awarded the 2019 Steam Boat Prize. And it is that in its lines we can find several very interesting themes that are intertwined in history in a fascinating way:
- Family relationships and, more specifically, the love of a granddaughter for her grandfather.
- The pain of the loss of a loved one.
- The fantastic combination between traditional letter messaging and current social media messaging.
- The different and fun types of relationships that are established in a small town.
The smallest of the house will not be able to stop reading until the story is finished, because the way of narration as well as the illustrations and even the samples of conversations via WhatsApp will hook them from the beginning.
A perfect mix between the past and the present
With the passage of time, everything changes. The way of communicating between people was not going to be less. Letters were for many years the form of communication between people who were far away. However, the arrival of new technologies in people’s lives has caused distances to be eliminated and all conversations are carried out ‘at the stroke of an intro’.
Both sides of the coin wanted to capture the author combining them in a fantastic way by including small fragments, both from traditional letters and conversations on WhatsApp.
Complementary materials for reading
One of the advantages to highlight of the SM publishing house is that, on many occasions, its books are accompanied by complementary material to work both in the classroom and at home.
On this occasion, this book awarded with the 2019 El Barco de Vapor Award was not going to be less, and it includes two dossiers. The first one is intended to be carried out at home with the family, while the second is intended for classrooms.
