This commentary links child-family research to the systematic inquiry approaches under the umbrellas of student voice and youth participatory action research. It reviews the underlying premises of the latter two bodies of work, including recognizing young people as knowers, partners, and change agents through conducting research with rather than on children and youth. It highlights how the articles included in this special issue challenge us to consider literacy not simply as a language competency but also as a life capacity that must be developed in relationship and in real, sometimes devastating, and always complex, human circumstances. The commentary concludes with a call to pursue multiple forms of literacy and linguistic justice through valuing young people's multilingual and multimodal linguistic practices, honoring their diverse forms of perception and expression, and recognizing the rich insights and recommendations for practice they provide to those who work in school contexts.