I just spoke with a group of second, third, fourth, and fifth-graders yesterday, about 300 students in the gym, and we were talking about book recommendations and giving each other book recommendations. And I asked the whole group, “Who’s the best person to give a book recommendation to a third-grader?” And the kids talked with each other, and I heard things like mom, dad, my teacher, my librarian. And one little girl said, “Another third-grader.”
Children need a community of support that values independent reading. Often their peer group does more to hinder that development than support it. But we know that the power of the peer can really be utilized in a way that supports children as readers. While I might give great book recommendations to my students or parents may have great book recommendations for their children, in order to build a reading community of their own apart from a parent or an adult driving that for children, they need to develop connections to their peers around reading.
