Building on the author's groundbreaking work in "Building Superheroes," this book traces the influence of a wide-ranging set of "textual toys" from children's lives--church and hip-hop songs, rap music, movies, TV, traditional jump-rope rhymes, the words of professional sports announcers and radio deejays--upon school learning and writing. The book uses rich portraits of five African American first graders to demonstrate how children's imaginative use of wider cultural symbols enriches their school learning. Featuring vignettes of children who are often left behind by the educational system, the book: provides a detailed view of written language development from inside a particular childhood culture; shows that children bring a rich folk culture to school and demonstrate how they"remix" their cultural references to accommodate school tasks such as writing; turns the traditional educational view inside out by starting from inside a child's culture and looking out toward the demands of school, rather than starting on the outside of the child and looking in; and provides concrete examples of how children's cultural literacy practices translate into classroom practices and, in turn, into practices of academic success. Includes a glossary and a media bibliography. (Contains approximately 200 references.) (NKA)