This two years master's thesis examines the experience of children who read to a dog. The theoretical framework is inspired by sociocultural theory developed by Roger Säljö and the concept carnival inspired by Mikhail Bakhtin. The sociocultural theory has been chosen because it emphasizes the role of practice, instruments and communication in learning and the concept carnival has been chosen to analyze the experience of reading to a dog. The method used is qualitative interview and observation. A total of eight interviews and two observations when children read to a dog have been collected. One interview is with a teacher and seven interviews are with the children (six children participated and one child was interviewed twice). The method of analysis is a process in three stages where the first stage is to explore what the children say, the next stage examines the meaning of what is being said and the third stage understands it in relation to the theoretical framework and prior done research. Important results are that most of the children participating in this thesis have a positive experience of reading to a dog. The children read to a dog in different rooms, at different times and the children read to several dogs. The instrument used was fiction books. Since the purpose was to read only to the dogs the role of the teacher who was in the room during the sessions was described by the children as passive. The observations showed a more active role where the teacher helped the children with difficult words. Most children pet the dog while reading and they gave the dog a treat afterwards. The discussion of this thesis focuses on the role of the libraries. It also gives examples on how to develop reading to dogs and what studies can be done in the future. For the program to evolve more literacy activities can be incorporated and the role of the adult and the dog can be more active. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

This master´s thesis is a qualitative study that examines reader leaders’ experiences of Shared Reading with children and young people aged 11-17 years. Ten reader leaders were interviewed about their arguments to work with Shared Reading with children and teenagers and whether they feel that Shared Reading contributes to increased engagement in reading among the young people they have met. The study also examines what motives the reader leaders have for working with Shared Reading in schools and if they see any problems or difficulties when working with Shared Reading in schools. To shed light on the work with Shared Reading in libraries and schools, the theory of practice architectures has been used. I conducted a qualitative interview study with ten informants. The qualitative results were analysed with content analysis.The results shows that the informants emphasize that reading aloud makes the texts accessible, even to those who are inexperienced or unwilling to read. The informants states that it gives participants a feeling of being accepted regardless of previous experiences of reading. The social context is an important part of Shared Reading. The informants appreciate the joint meaning-making and that the participants help each other to understand a text. The fact that everyone's voices are important in the group is inclusive, and to do things together in a group promotes reading engagement. Shared Reading is a method that promotes reading, but joint reading also promotes the participants' personal development and group relationships. Informants emphasize that the young participants see that people's differences and different opinions are good, and that they practice arguing and accepting the participants' different opinions. Thus, Shared Reading can promote the group's relationships and be a way of working for democratic values. Furthermore, this study shows many benefits for libraries to collaborate with schools through Shared Reading. In outreach work towards the school, Shared Reading reaches more children than those who come to the public library. By collaborating with the school and teachers, the opportunity to be more adults around reading sessions with Shared Reading increases. Informants have also experienced that young people are not used to relating reading to their own lives and that assessment affects students' relationship to text conversations and reading. Shared Reading can be a complement to the school's reading, which is more focused on an analytical reading of text and evaluative reading comprehension. Shared Reading can serve as a space free from assessment and a performance-oriented culture in schools.When young people see themselves as competent readers, it can motivate further reading. Sharing thoughts and discussing texts together with others motivates children and young people to participate in the joint reading. Informants see that the democratic and inclusive values that Shared Reading stands for can be motivating and engaging. Based on the results of this study, Shared Reading removes the barriers to reading and opens paths for literature to strengthen readers' self-confidence and reader identity. Shared Reading in libraries and schools can promote the reading of literature in a way that creates empathy, builds relationships, and is inclusive and democratic.