This article opens with vignettes of two classroom teachers who use music and drama as core strategies to introduce, develop, and follow-up on a reading lesson during an integrated social studies unit. These examples introduce an expanded definition of literacy that includes use of language and the arts as equal communication partners. A case is presented for arts-based literacy, and the author cites a significant research base that connects arts integration to academic, personal, and social gains. She goes on to explain the process of collaborative arts-based literacy planning, showing how a team of teachers selects specific music, visual art, drama, and dance strategies to develop a book's "big ideas" or themes. Arts strategies are then used as processes to help students make meaning before, during, and after reading.