A study examined the conditions of education and the status of children's literature in Argentina, a country currently ruled by a military junta. Specifically, the study investigated how children's literature affected school curriculum; what themes were considered to be important; the roles of ethnic, female, and historical characters; and how teachers were prepared to introduce and make use of children's literature in the schools. The procedures used in the study included interviews with staff members of teacher training, curriculum development, and research at the National Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Education of Buenos Aires province; interviews with individual authors, editors, and publishers of children's books; and visits to teacher training institutions. Among the findings of the study were the following: (1) the children's literature showed little evidence of racism--however, the indigenous peoples of Argentina were rarely mentioned in the works; (2) in most books for children, boys were predominate as heroes and doers, while girls were shown as sisters, mothers, and teachers and were usually depicted as passive; and (3) historical characters were often shown to be "larger than life." Overall, the literature displayed much art, craft, and skill, with only occasional excursions into controversial social topics. (FL)