This literature review examines articles and research discussing the pros and cons of using black English reading materials in the teaching of initial reading to black-English speaking children. It evaluates articles and studies that compare subjects' performance on standard English and black English oral reading, oral reading comprehension, and silent reading tasks; that discuss the effect of the dialect of presentation on subjects' oral reading and/or oral reading comprehension; that consider the effect of orthographic form; and that show the effect the dialect of presentation had on subjects' silent reading comprehension performance. (TJ)