[Pediatric nursing knowledge: books edited in Brazil from 1916 to 1988]

From the apprehension of the knowledge in pediatrics nursing in Brazil, a research was done in a Brazilian historical bibliographic work of references. From an historical perspective nursing it is seen as a social articulate practice, as part of a collective process of work. The knowledge in this study is considered as an instrument from which man apprehends his working object. Forty titles were found about how to take care of children, from eight per cent of the a group of five hundred and four. The proportion was considered very small. The production which was found was classified under two aspects: the prescriptive and the analytical. The prescriptive texts are those related to normalize the work in view of the rationality and to the productivity. The analytical opens the possibility and give the means to diversify the nursing assistance particularizing the care and with another aim related to the nursing work.