diff --git a/kernel/src/engine/default/json.rs b/kernel/src/engine/default/json.rs
index 62b7846e8..5b373dc20 100644
--- a/kernel/src/engine/default/json.rs
+++ b/kernel/src/engine/default/json.rs
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ pub struct DefaultJsonHandler<E: TaskExecutor> {
     /// The executor to run async tasks on
     task_executor: Arc<E>,
     /// The maximum number of batches to read ahead
-    readahead: usize,
+    buffer_size: usize,
     /// The number of rows to read per batch
     batch_size: usize,
 }
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ impl<E: TaskExecutor> DefaultJsonHandler<E> {
         Self {
             store,
             task_executor,
-            readahead: 1000,
+            buffer_size: 1000,
             batch_size: 1024 * 128,
         }
     }
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ impl<E: TaskExecutor> DefaultJsonHandler<E> {
     ///
     /// Defaults to 10.
     pub fn with_readahead(mut self, readahead: usize) -> Self {
-        self.readahead = readahead;
+        self.buffer_size = readahead;
         self
     }
 
@@ -87,9 +87,9 @@ impl<E: TaskExecutor> JsonHandler for DefaultJsonHandler<E> {
         let schema: ArrowSchemaRef = Arc::new(physical_schema.as_ref().try_into()?);
         let file_opener = JsonOpener::new(self.batch_size, schema.clone(), self.store.clone());
 
-        let (tx, rx) = mpsc::sync_channel(self.readahead);
+        let (tx, rx) = mpsc::sync_channel(self.buffer_size);
         let files = files.to_vec();
-        let readahead = self.readahead;
+        let buffer_size = self.buffer_size;
 
         self.task_executor.spawn(async move {
             // an iterator of futures that open each file
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ impl<E: TaskExecutor> JsonHandler for DefaultJsonHandler<E> {
 
             // create a stream from that iterator which buffers up to `readahead` futures at a time
             let mut stream = stream::iter(file_futures)
-                .buffered(readahead)
+                .buffered(buffer_size)
                 .try_flatten()
                 .map_ok(|record_batch| {
                     Box::new(ArrowEngineData::new(record_batch)) as Box<dyn EngineData>
@@ -228,8 +228,13 @@ mod tests {
     use std::sync::Mutex;
     use std::time::Duration;
 
+    use crate::actions::get_log_schema;
     use crate::arrow::array::{AsArray, RecordBatch, StringArray};
     use crate::arrow::datatypes::{DataType, Field, Schema as ArrowSchema};
+    use crate::engine::arrow_data::ArrowEngineData;
+    use crate::engine::default::executor::tokio::{
+        TokioBackgroundExecutor, TokioMultiThreadExecutor,
+    };
     use futures::future;
     use itertools::Itertools;
     use object_store::{local::LocalFileSystem, ObjectStore};
@@ -238,11 +243,14 @@ mod tests {
         PutOptions, PutPayload, PutResult, Result,
     };
 
+    // TODO: should just use the one from test_utils, but running into dependency issues
+    fn into_record_batch(engine_data: Box<dyn EngineData>) -> RecordBatch {
+        ArrowEngineData::try_from_engine_data(engine_data)
+            .unwrap()
+            .into()
+    }
+
     use super::*;
-    use crate::{
-        actions::get_log_schema, engine::arrow_data::ArrowEngineData,
-        engine::default::executor::tokio::TokioBackgroundExecutor,
-    };
 
     /// Store wrapper that wraps an inner store to purposefully delay GET requests of certain keys.
     #[derive(Debug)]
@@ -435,15 +443,7 @@ mod tests {
         let data: Vec<RecordBatch> = handler
             .read_json_files(files, Arc::new(physical_schema.try_into().unwrap()), None)
             .unwrap()
-            .map(|ed_res| {
-                // TODO(nick) make this easier
-                ed_res.and_then(|ed| {
-                    ed.into_any()
-                        .downcast::<ArrowEngineData>()
-                        .map_err(|_| Error::engine_data_type("ArrowEngineData"))
-                        .map(|sd| sd.into())
-                })
-            })
+            .map_ok(into_record_batch)
             .try_collect()
             .unwrap();
 
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(data[0].num_rows(), 4);
     }
 
-    #[tokio::test]
+    #[tokio::test(flavor = "multi_thread", worker_threads = 3)]
     async fn test_read_json_files_ordering() {
         let paths = [
             "./tests/data/table-with-dv-small/_delta_log/00000000000000000000.json",
@@ -485,22 +485,21 @@ mod tests {
                 }
             })
             .collect();
+
+        // note: join_all is ordered
         let files = future::join_all(file_futures).await;
 
-        let handler = DefaultJsonHandler::new(store, Arc::new(TokioBackgroundExecutor::new()));
+        let handler = DefaultJsonHandler::new(
+            store,
+            Arc::new(TokioMultiThreadExecutor::new(
+                tokio::runtime::Handle::current(),
+            )),
+        );
         let physical_schema = Arc::new(ArrowSchema::try_from(get_log_schema().as_ref()).unwrap());
         let data: Vec<RecordBatch> = handler
             .read_json_files(&files, Arc::new(physical_schema.try_into().unwrap()), None)
             .unwrap()
-            .map(|ed_res| {
-                // TODO(nick) make this easier
-                ed_res.and_then(|ed| {
-                    ed.into_any()
-                        .downcast::<ArrowEngineData>()
-                        .map_err(|_| Error::engine_data_type("ArrowEngineData"))
-                        .map(|sd| sd.into())
-                })
-            })
+            .map_ok(into_record_batch)
             .try_collect()
             .unwrap();
         assert_eq!(data.len(), 2);