The term close reading often conjures up an image of a teacher asking students several scripted questions that encourage them to reread and critically examine a text. The teacher then evaluates the students' responses. In this article, the authors offer another approach to close reading—one that places students' text‐dependent questions front and center as they collaboratively discuss the text and construct meaning. The authors analyze transcript excerpts from small‐group discussions of narrative and informational texts to demonstrate elementary students' abilities to ask and answer their own text‐dependent questions as they engage in close reading.