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How might book introductions open up spaces for critical literacy? This is the research question we asked while examining the records of teaching and learning within a yearlong teacher-research project in a second grade classroom. We designed a series of literacy units focused on themes of human rights, freedom, peace, and civil rights. Our focus in this paper is on one slice of the classroom's literacy life: book introductions. Our findings indicate that spaces for critical literacy were opened up through the teachers' careful selection of books; the teachers' use of purposeful prompts, and the teachers' willingness to let silence reign during the book introduction. We display three important findings through 'telling examples' of what critical literacy book introductions sound and look like. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]