This article aims to present the traditional oral folktale and how this literary genre is approached in textbooks. It is the result of a research of a basic nature that aims to explain in a quantitative and qualitative way the approach to the folktale in these manuals. The research was carried out through a bibliographic survey on popular tale, such as studies by Propp (2010), Jolles (1976), Dundes (1996), Cascudo (2004), Romero (2008), Lima (2005) among others. The teaching of literature was also discussed from the perspective of how the BNCC (BRASIL, 2018) addresses the importance of the folktale in the classroom, specific guidelines for this modality of Popular Literature are presented, since the oral story enriches the our cultural identity. As a theoretical framework, we used studies by Cosson (2021) and Coenga (2010) on literary literacy to analyze the sampling of selected textbooks. The analysis of 51 manuals showed that the approach to folk tales in these books does not satisfactorily promote literary literacy, therefore, it is necessary for this genre to be approached in a more efficient way, considering the aesthetic aspects of folk tales.