This Special Issue of the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy explores the transformative potential of children’s literature in the context of 21st-century environmental, digital, political, social, and cultural change. Across the collection, authors examine how literature supports young people’s critical and creative engagement with their worlds, and how educators’ knowledge and practices shape literary experiences in classrooms. The opening article investigates pre-service teachers’ reading identities, highlighting the importance of intrinsic motivation and meaning-making in reading for pleasure. Subsequent contributions explore the complexities of text selection, curriculum-making, and the ethical dimensions of literary pedagogy. Articles in this issue critically engage with themes of ecological awareness, childhood agency, representation, and resistance, drawing on metaphors such as Rudine Sims Bishop’s “mirrors, windows and sliding doors” to frame literature’s role in shaping identity and social understanding. These works underscore the importance of challenging texts and diverse perspectives in fostering empathy, ethical awareness, and critical consciousness. Collectively, the issue affirms literature’s central role in education—not only as a tool for literacy development but as a means of navigating complexity, cultivating inclusive worldviews, and enacting transformative pedagogy.