However, the most interesting writer among these is Ana de Castro Osório who wrote
and translated more than thirty books, directed a series of books for the very young,
worked for the Just Born Press for children and fought for quality and beauty in books
for this new public of young readers. Henrique Marques Junior, besides being a writer,
was the first researcher on literature for children, publishing Algumas achegas para uma
Bibliografia Infantil [Some Notes for a Bibliography] (1928), a very valuable and unique
work on the subject. Many famous painters used to illustrate books for children; one
can find the signatures of Benjamin Rabier, Eduardo Malta. Milly Possoz, Francisco
Valença, Roque Gameiro, Alfredo Moraes, Guida Ottolini, Raquel Roque Gameiro, Carlos
Carneiro and others.
During the second period the number of titles published goes up, but the topics are
greatly limited by a strong and always present dictatorial power. Poetry gives us some
great names whose books have been reprinted several times since then. Matilde Rosa
Araújo wrote O livro da Tila [Tila’s Book] (1957), her first poems for children, which are still
in print. Other notable books included Sidónio Muralha’s Bichos, bichinhos e bicharocos
[Pets, Small Pets, Little Pets] (1949) and Maria Alberta Menéres’s Figuras figuronas
[Geometric Figures] (1969). Books on historical events, and biographies made Adolfo
Simões Muller well known among children; he wrote more than thirty books including
novels, poems and plays. Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen published her first two
novels, A fada Oriana [Fairy Oriana] (1958) and A menina do mar [The Little Girl from
the Sea] (1959), which remain favourites with young readers. Ricardo Alberty is a great
writer of short stories of which the best known are ‘A galinha verde’ [The Green Hen]
(1957) and ‘Os quatro corações do coraçõo’ [The Four Hearts of the Heart] (1968).
Aquilino Ribeiro wrote two new books: Arca de Noé, terceira classe [Noah’s Ark, Third
Class] (1936) and O livro da Marianinha [Little Mariana’s Book] (1967). Two novels set in
Africa are Kurika and Impala (1946) by Henrique Galvão. Matilde Roda Araújo was the
author of one of the most cherished books of this period, O palhaço verde [The Green
Clown] (1962). Two books have remained in great demand: one written by a poet,
Papiniano Carlos: A menina gotinha de água [Little Miss Waterdrop] (1965); the other is
Constantino, guardador de vacas e de sonhos [Constantino, Guardian of Cows and
Dreams] (1962) by Alves Redol. This was also the golden period for the press; magazines
for children, such as O senhor Doutor, O Papagaio, O Mosquito and O Cavaleiro Andante
were very popular and helped many authors to fame.
Since the end of the dictatorship in 1974, literature for children has bloomed, both in
the quality of text and of illustration. Some authors from the previous period now
explore humour, nonsense and social conflicts more openly. The best known are Matilde
Rosa Araújo, Luisa Ducla Soares, António Torrado, Maria Alberta Menéres, Mário
Castrim, Luisa Dacosta and Ilse Losa, all of them with long lists of short stories, novels
and plays to their names. The following titles must be mentioned: As Fadas [The Fairies]
(1994) by Matilde Rosa Araújo; A vassoura mágica [The Magic Broom] (1986) by Luisa
Ducla Soares; a series of traditional stories retold by António Torrado as Histórias
tradicionais portuguesas contadas de novo [Retold Portuguese Traditional Stories] (from
1992); Uma palmada na testa [Slapping the Forehead] (1993) by Maria Alberta Menéres;
A caminho de Fátima [On the Road to Fátima] (1992) by Mário Castrim and A menina
724 THE WORLD OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE