BRAZILIAN READINGS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH: BETWEEN THE READER, THE SCHOOL AND THE MARKET

The first Brazilian books for the youth were published in the beginning of the nineteenth century, with didactic purposes. The autonomy of this literature materialized with Monteiro Lobato, in the twenties, also a time of economic and social growth. Since then, the Brazilian children’s literature expands due to the increase of the consumer market, the embracing of policies to encourage reading, purchace and distribution of books by the government, curricula centered on crosscutting issues of collective interest. Consumption of literary works is therefore induced by State and school. That does not mean they are missing the spontaneous production, directly chosen by the readership, or creativity. Brazilian children’s literature throughout its history illustrates characteristics of the genre in which it is included, as the relationship between the preferences of the readership and the directions of the school market, the possibilities of creating beyond the print support, the interaction with other media.