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With the objectives of contributing to the production of a specific history, theory and criticism of Brazilian literature in Brazil and understanding the place of the journalist, writer and historian Leonardo Arroyo (1918-1985) in this history, we focus on aspects of youth literature production of this author, published in the format of book and chapter in the mid-twentieth century, in Brazil. Through a historical approach, centered on documentary and bibliographical research, developed through the use of localization, retrieval, meeting, selection and ordering of documentary sources, a research instrument was elaborated containing the references of Leonardo Arroyo's texts from and about children's literature. Of these references, Olavo Bilac (1952) and Arroyo's chapter "Funton: the magician of the movement" (1960) stand out, in which it is possible to observe characteristics of the beginning of a specific reading production for the young The results have made it possible to understand that the book and chapter of Arroyo present certain characteristics of a frontier production, still in formation, sometimes called "text for youth", sometimes called "youth literature", or "didactic literature" , among others. These different nomenclatures derive from the rise of this literary genre at the beginning of its formation, influenced by the development of psychology in education and the Brazilian publishing market. Among the main characteristics of this production of youth literature, in which Arroyo's production is inserted, are the transmission of values ​​and social behaviors related to the valorization of school knowledge and the development of a new awareness of the young person, who should be aware of A more civilized and modern society. In this context of transformations of Brazilian society, youth literature played a fundamental role in the formation of this new consciousness.