This article presents an exemplary case study of one elementary education preservice teacher. This exploratory study originated at a large university on the east coast of the United States in the spring semester of 2011, when the student was enrolled in the researcher's class on children's literature. Throughout the course, the instructor noted the student's rapid development of expertise with the course outcomes, and maintained an electronic portfolio of her work. The student then entered the two-year teacher preparation program at the same university and throughout the following two years the student and the instructor continued to maintain an informal professional relationship, meeting to discuss the student's coursework and field experiences. After the student's final year of her teacher preparation coursework and classroom internship, the instructor approached the student about a formal collaboration to explore the student's development of the cognitive and affective aspects of cultural competence. The student enthusiastically agreed to the collaboration, and expressed her willingness to allow her written work from the previous two years to serve as data for the study. Subsequently, the student sent the instructor all of her written assignments that she had completed in her teacher education program that had incorporated children's literature. Referring to Deardorff's (2006, 2009) model as a framework for the study, the following research questions emerged: (1) How do the course content and pedagogical practices in a children's literature class impact one student's development of cultural competence; and (2) How does the student express her developing cultural competence? Findings indicate that when students acquire the skills and dispositions of cultural competence as an integral part of the fabric of course material, those skills and dispositions help them to develop social consciousness, to understand the relationship between teaching and social equity, and to equip themselves to serve as agents of change.