ABSTRACT
The annual lists of books acquired through the budget of the Ministry of Education include novels, short stories, poetry, dramaturgy, adaptations, graphic novels, and proceed, mainly, from Brazilian authors, both canonical and emerging names. In spite of an auspicious start, there were frequent complaints of lack of variety in books intended for children, especially for school. The tactics Lobato employed proved themselves to be efficient, even though he passed through a series of ups and downs during his 25 years dedicated to writing for children. He helped the literary genre he chose to progress, not only because he created a literary universe with a great impact on Brazilian culture, but also because he showed the business angle of all products, both aesthetic and pragmatic, aimed for consumption. The economic and social frame repeated itself, on a smaller scale, in other urban centers, including Rio de Janeiro, the Federal Capital, where workers swelled the consumer population of industrialized goods.
