diff --git a/src/hipscat/io/file_io/file_io.py b/src/hipscat/io/file_io/file_io.py
index d465fc7b..d3357dfd 100644
--- a/src/hipscat/io/file_io/file_io.py
+++ b/src/hipscat/io/file_io/file_io.py
@@ -198,34 +198,41 @@ def read_parquet_metadata(
 
 
 def read_parquet_dataset(
-    dir_pointer: FilePointer, storage_options: Union[Dict[Any, Any], None] = None, **kwargs
-) -> Tuple(FilePointer, Dataset):
-    """Read parquet dataset from directory pointer.
+    source: FilePointer, storage_options: Union[Dict[Any, Any], None] = None, **kwargs
+) -> Tuple[FilePointer, Dataset]:
+    """Read parquet dataset from directory pointer or list of files.
 
     Note that pyarrow.dataset reads require that directory pointers don't contain a
     leading slash, and the protocol prefix may additionally be removed. As such, we also return
     the directory path that is formatted for pyarrow ingestion for follow-up.
 
+    See more info on source specification and possible kwargs at
+    https://arrow.apache.org/docs/python/generated/pyarrow.dataset.dataset.html
+
     Args:
-        dir_pointer: location of file to read metadata from
+        source: directory, path, or list of paths to read data from
         storage_options: dictionary that contains abstract filesystem credentials
 
     Returns:
         Tuple containing a path to the dataset (that is formatted for pyarrow ingestion)
         and the dataset read from disk.
     """
-    file_system, dir_pointer = get_fs(file_pointer=dir_pointer, storage_options=storage_options)
-
     # pyarrow.dataset requires the pointer not lead with a slash
-    dir_pointer = strip_leading_slash_for_pyarrow(dir_pointer, file_system.protocol)
+    if pd.api.types.is_list_like(source) and len(source) > 0:
+        sample_pointer = source[0]
+        file_system, sample_pointer = get_fs(file_pointer=sample_pointer, storage_options=storage_options)
+        source = [strip_leading_slash_for_pyarrow(path, file_system.protocol) for path in source]
+    else:
+        file_system, source = get_fs(file_pointer=source, storage_options=storage_options)
+        source = strip_leading_slash_for_pyarrow(source, file_system.protocol)
 
     dataset = pds.dataset(
-        dir_pointer,
+        source,
         filesystem=file_system,
         format="parquet",
         **kwargs,
     )
-    return (dir_pointer, dataset)
+    return (source, dataset)
 
 
 def read_parquet_file(file_pointer: FilePointer, storage_options: Union[Dict[Any, Any], None] = None):
diff --git a/tests/hipscat/io/file_io/test_file_io.py b/tests/hipscat/io/file_io/test_file_io.py
index ab33beae..8c69439b 100644
--- a/tests/hipscat/io/file_io/test_file_io.py
+++ b/tests/hipscat/io/file_io/test_file_io.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
     load_json_file,
     load_parquet_to_pandas,
     make_directory,
+    read_parquet_dataset,
     read_parquet_file_to_pandas,
     remove_directory,
     write_dataframe_to_csv,
@@ -112,3 +113,24 @@ def test_read_parquet_data(tmp_path):
     file_pointer = get_file_pointer_from_path(test_file_path)
     dataframe = read_parquet_file_to_pandas(file_pointer)
     pd.testing.assert_frame_equal(dataframe, random_df)
+
+
+def test_read_parquet_dataset(small_sky_dir, small_sky_order1_dir):
+    (_, ds) = read_parquet_dataset(os.path.join(small_sky_dir, "Norder=0"))
+
+    assert ds.count_rows() == 131
+
+    (_, ds) = read_parquet_dataset([os.path.join(small_sky_dir, "Norder=0", "Dir=0", "Npix=11.parquet")])
+
+    assert ds.count_rows() == 131
+
+    (_, ds) = read_parquet_dataset(
+        [
+            os.path.join(small_sky_order1_dir, "Norder=1", "Dir=0", "Npix=44.parquet"),
+            os.path.join(small_sky_order1_dir, "Norder=1", "Dir=0", "Npix=45.parquet"),
+            os.path.join(small_sky_order1_dir, "Norder=1", "Dir=0", "Npix=46.parquet"),
+            os.path.join(small_sky_order1_dir, "Norder=1", "Dir=0", "Npix=47.parquet"),
+        ]
+    )
+
+    assert ds.count_rows() == 131