Fostering critical consciousness through reading racially and culturally representative literature positively impacts literacy development in students. The research took place in a 6th-grade class of multicultural and multilingual learners who, for a semester, read, discussed, and worked with culturally and racially representative books in addition to reading their standard curriculum-based books. Students independently used these texts to deepen their understanding of the world. I found a plethora of evidence to suggest that the students gained a deeper critical awareness of social inequalities while also improving their literacy skills during the time this research was conducted. Lastly, I observed that students are well aware that reading representative literature benefited the students academically. Therefore, I advocate for more racially and culturally representative books and pedagogical practices, such as storytelling, to be used in classrooms in order to educate the next generation as both literate and critically conscious agents of change.
Keywords: Racially and culturally representative literature, critical consciousness, literacy skills.