New Children’s Books Page

The Guardian Children’s Books page was launched today as a new book club that will involve children from all around the world to review and talk about their reading. There are three reading zones: seven and under, eight to 12 and 13-plus. The curators are of all ages, with the older ones writing down the reviews for the younger ones, who are still developing their reading skills. But the most amazing thing about all this, is the maturity of its curators, who profess to have a very sophisticated reading taste.

Claire Armitstead, in her article of 1 March, says that the level of their readings is very impressive. She mentions that the new technology is helping children to develop a varied taste. In her own words, “research carried out for World Book Day suggests that a growing number of teenagers are using the new technologies not just to chat to friends but for serious reading. From a sample of 505 teens aged between 13 and 18, 40.8% had read a book on a computer, nearly one in five (17.2%) had read one on a mobile phone, and 13.3% on a Tablet or iPad.”

But what’s most impressive, is that the page will be ran by kids alone, with no involvement of adults. The contributions come from all over the world, forming a panel of 100 young curators, who are from as varied places as Peru and Egypt.

Jacqueline Wilson, the creator of Tracy Beaker and former children’s laureate, reads from her book Lily Alone and answers questions from young readers of the Guardian children’s books site.

That’s the beginning of their independence as readers, where kids can find more information about books written by their peers and not by adults.

Who needs an adult anyway? =)