Four essays consider aspects of ensuring that every child can succeed in school. The first, "Appearing Acts: Creating Readers in a High School English Class" (Joan Kernan Cone), explores the self-perceptions of students and uses them to inspire their enthusiasm for reading. The cultural sensitivity of the teacher is instrumental in making students become a community of readers. "Lessons from Students on Creating a Chance To Dream" (Sonia Nieto), uses interviews to develop 12 case studies of students from a variety of ethnic, racial, linguistic, and social-class backgrounds in junior or senior high school. The characteristics of their experiences and backgrounds that help them succeed in school are described. "Life after Death: Critical Pedagogy in an Urban Classroom" (J. Alleyne Johnson) describes the evolution of a classroom into one in which the reality of students' lives are acknowledged and addressed as central to the work of the classroom. The final essay, "Reading the World of School Literacy: Contextualizing the Experience of a Young African American Male" (Arlette Ingram Willis), examines the literacy schooling experiences of the author's son as he tries to assert himself as a learner and an African American, and argues for a reconceptualization of literacy that builds on children's backgrounds and knowledge. References follow each chapter. (SLD)