diff --git a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/backends.py b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/backends.py
index c7b4a1c4c6a..d05be30602e 100644
--- a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/backends.py
+++ b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/backends.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import warnings
 from collections.abc import Iterator
+from functools import partial
 
 import cupy as cp
 import numpy as np
@@ -484,7 +485,6 @@ def sizeof_cudf_series_index(obj):
     def _simple_cudf_encode(_):
         # Basic pickle-based encoding for a partd k-v store
         import pickle
-        from functools import partial
 
         import partd
 
@@ -686,6 +686,19 @@ def from_dict(
             constructor=constructor,
         )
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def read_json(*args, engine="auto", **kwargs):
+        return _default_backend(
+            dd.read_json,
+            *args,
+            engine=(
+                partial(cudf.read_json, engine=engine)
+                if isinstance(engine, str)
+                else engine
+            ),
+            **kwargs,
+        )
+
 
 # Import/register cudf-specific classes for dask-expr
 try:
diff --git a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/io/tests/test_json.py b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/io/tests/test_json.py
index a2b1d7fc114..8dcf3f05e89 100644
--- a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/io/tests/test_json.py
+++ b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/io/tests/test_json.py
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@
 import dask_cudf
 from dask_cudf.tests.utils import skip_dask_expr
 
-# No dask-expr support
-pytestmark = skip_dask_expr()
+# No dask-expr support for dask_expr<=1.0.5
+pytestmark = skip_dask_expr(lt_version="1.0.5+a")
 
 
 def test_read_json_backend_dispatch(tmp_path):
diff --git a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/io/tests/test_parquet.py b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/io/tests/test_parquet.py
index de2a735b2ce..df41ef77b7c 100644
--- a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/io/tests/test_parquet.py
+++ b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/io/tests/test_parquet.py
@@ -535,7 +535,7 @@ def test_check_file_size(tmpdir):
         dask_cudf.io.read_parquet(fn, check_file_size=1).compute()
 
 
-@xfail_dask_expr("HivePartitioning cannot be hashed")
+@xfail_dask_expr("HivePartitioning cannot be hashed", lt_version="1.0")
 def test_null_partition(tmpdir):
     import pyarrow as pa
     from pyarrow.dataset import HivePartitioning
diff --git a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/io/tests/test_s3.py b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/io/tests/test_s3.py
index f4a6fabdb60..a67404da4fe 100644
--- a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/io/tests/test_s3.py
+++ b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/io/tests/test_s3.py
@@ -10,10 +10,6 @@
 import pytest
 
 import dask_cudf
-from dask_cudf.tests.utils import skip_dask_expr
-
-# No dask-expr support
-pytestmark = skip_dask_expr()
 
 moto = pytest.importorskip("moto", minversion="3.1.6")
 boto3 = pytest.importorskip("boto3")
@@ -111,7 +107,7 @@ def test_read_csv(s3_base, s3so):
         s3_base=s3_base, bucket="daskcsv", files={"a.csv": b"a,b\n1,2\n3,4\n"}
     ):
         df = dask_cudf.read_csv(
-            "s3://daskcsv/*.csv", chunksize="50 B", storage_options=s3so
+            "s3://daskcsv/*.csv", blocksize="50 B", storage_options=s3so
         )
         assert df.a.sum().compute() == 4
 
diff --git a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/tests/utils.py b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/tests/utils.py
index e838b8d63bc..1ca1758736b 100644
--- a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/tests/utils.py
+++ b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/tests/utils.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
 import pytest
+from packaging.version import Version
 
 import dask.dataframe as dd
 
@@ -10,6 +11,13 @@
 
 from dask_cudf.expr import QUERY_PLANNING_ON
 
+if QUERY_PLANNING_ON:
+    import dask_expr
+
+    DASK_EXPR_VERSION = Version(dask_expr.__version__)
+else:
+    DASK_EXPR_VERSION = None
+
 
 def _make_random_frame(nelem, npartitions=2, include_na=False):
     df = pd.DataFrame(
@@ -27,9 +35,17 @@ def _make_random_frame(nelem, npartitions=2, include_na=False):
 _default_reason = "Not compatible with dask-expr"
 
 
-def skip_dask_expr(reason=_default_reason):
-    return pytest.mark.skipif(QUERY_PLANNING_ON, reason=reason)
+def skip_dask_expr(reason=_default_reason, lt_version=None):
+    if lt_version is not None:
+        skip = QUERY_PLANNING_ON and DASK_EXPR_VERSION < Version(lt_version)
+    else:
+        skip = QUERY_PLANNING_ON
+    return pytest.mark.skipif(skip, reason=reason)
 
 
-def xfail_dask_expr(reason=_default_reason):
-    return pytest.mark.xfail(QUERY_PLANNING_ON, reason=reason)
+def xfail_dask_expr(reason=_default_reason, lt_version=None):
+    if lt_version is not None:
+        xfail = QUERY_PLANNING_ON and DASK_EXPR_VERSION < Version(lt_version)
+    else:
+        xfail = QUERY_PLANNING_ON
+    return pytest.mark.xfail(xfail, reason=reason)