This article aims to show the pioneering role Professor Dirce Côrtes Riedel assumed with the publication of three textbooks - “Brazilian Literature Course” (1968), “Portuguese Literature Course” (1970) and “Authors for Vestibular” (1973). The books prioritized the relationship between reading and reader, through an innovative work, spreading information about contemporary authors and also, for the first time, giving space for authors from the African Literatures in Portuguese Language in a textbook. --- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12957/matraga.2016.24894