‘Can I tell you about the funny bit?’: Working alongside children as citizen scientists to explore shared Reading practices in the home

Shared reading research has traditionally focused on developmental outcomes yet rarely positions children as co-constructors of knowledge about their own literacy practices. Grounded in a child-rights informed and ecological developmental framework, this study positions children as citizen scientists to examine how shared reading is experienced within the relational context of home life. Using a participatory action research approach, 109 children aged 7-11 participated in 21 CoNavigator sessions. CoNavigator is a tactile, dialogic methodology that embeds participants directly in both data generation and primary analysis. In peer-led groups, children collaboratively constructed three-dimensional conceptual maps in response to the prompt 'shared reading at home', collectively defining what shared reading is, what it ought to be and what should change to support it. Children generated, organized, negotiated and interpreted their own data in real time, functioning as analytic collaborators rather than research subjects. While recognizing shared reading as developmentally valuable, children emphasized autonomy, emotional safety and attentive co-presence as central to sustained engagement. They reconceptualized 'sharing' to include post-reading dialogue and relational proximity rather than solely simultaneous co-reading. Experiences framed as overly corrective or compulsory were associated with disengagement, and the findings challenge outcome-driven models of home literacy support.