As the future arrives faster and faster one must ask continually, what do kids actually need from their formal education today and tomorrow? Continuous innovation of method and strategy must be integral to the practice of all teaching professionals. Equitable educators must take a look at the learners in front of them, when and where they stand, and address the needs of each individual. It has never been clearer that teachers cannot know what tomorrow holds for their students--yet they must be the wizards of the future. While they have no magic wand, the two critical opportunities made visible in this article are the processes to: (1) build powerfully honest relationships; and (2) teach students to be independent learners. Teacher collaboration with a future-thinking school librarian makes these processes possible and responsive in an alternative school setting. A struggling reader or literacy-averse high school student rarely walks into a library and browses for a book of choice that will then be read front to back independently. This article offers ways teachers can get high-interest, level-appropriate books into the hands of the students most in need of literacy skill development.