Book Talk

Supporting Children’s Speech, Language, and Literacy

bear book

Each year, an astonishing array of picture books enters a billion-dollar global children’s book industry. Books for children ages 4 through 8 make up a huge percentage of that market. It is easy to see why, given their creativity and entertainment value. Since its first publication in 1990, Books Are for Talking, Too! has placed a spotlight on special books for storybook read-aloud interactions. These are books I’ve found ideally suited to target specific areas of speech, language, and literacy development. Each book entered in the catalogs lists skills to target, ways to promote the skills during shared book reading, and more!

With so many impressive books on the shelves, I wish I had room to fill the pages with every book I’d love to share. As new books come onto the market, I find even more I want to present.

By showcasing a few here on Book Talk, I can share my ideas with you on how these great books can be used to engage children in developing oral communication and literacy. You may even think of more ideas. That’s great!

Along with publication information, you’ll find a summary that includes some of the book’s interesting features, such as the author, artist, topic, and related topics. Following that, you’ll see a Methods section with ways to use the book to develop the specified skills, all through the speech-language-and-literacy connection.

The elements I look for in these books are these: a quality story and illustrations, illustrations, and illustrations. Pictures that support a minimal text and tell a story in themselves, one the audience can connect with, capture the interest of the young (and not so young) – and you – the person who brings the story to life – the presenter.

Special Note: I try to select books that are readily available through school and local libraries, which means many are award-winners or notables to the extent they are widely recognized.

BOOKS ARE FOR TALKING, TOO! (4th Ed) is out now ON AMAZON.

Jane - Book Talk

Praise for Books Are for Talking, Too!

Great Resource for Parent Participation. I have been a Speech Pathologist for many years and one of the hardest aspects of the job is facilitating carryover with a home program. “Books Are for Talking, Too!” makes this simple. The book is already divided into sections for target skills of language, phonology, articulation, and pragmatics. Using grade level, you look under the desired subject, and you can provide parents books that correlate to the goals being addressed. Nothing to purchase, these books are classics, award winning literature found in our public libraries that kids and parents can enjoy together while reinforcing communication!

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Incredible Resource! I purchased this book for my Special Education Preschool team to use during their professional development meetings. I’ve since received many thank you’s for providing such an excellent resource! They’ve used it in collaborative planning sessions to address goals in language development and early literacy, and report that they continue to refer to the book time and time again…. I highly recommend this valuable resource!

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Great for parents, teachers, and speech therapists… The book has easy to follow suggestions that anyone can use. Well-known children’s books can be used to help a child’s speech, language, and overall learning. I’m a Speech Pathologist and have used earlier editions of this book. So glad this newer one has landed.

Verified Amazon purchaser

Books Are for Talking Too! is a very useful resource for those who want to target specific reading and language skills. It can also help homeschooling parents select children’s books based on themes such as seasons, pets, and music, or select books simply by reading the helpful synopses.

Cathy Duffy Reviews

My go-to for therapy planning!

Classlab_kelly

Books Are for Talking, Too!”, now in its fourth edition, is a Must-Buy! ….One of the book’s strengths is its focus on inclusivity and diverse learners, providing guidance on adapting techniques to accommodate children with special needs or those from bilingual or multilingual families. In summary, “Books Are for Talking, Too!” is a valuable resource for fostering a lifelong love of reading and learning in children.

Verified Amazon purchaser

As a speech-language pathologist I love to refer to this book….because I can look up a direct treatment plan for specific skills to meet the needs of the children I treat. Many great ideas!

Verified Amazon purchaser

I love that popular children’s books are featured throughout with fun, clear read-aloud activities for targeting various speech and language skills.

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[Ms.] Gebers emphasizes nurturing a child’s curiosity and offers actionable tips easily implemented by both professionals and parents.

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Excellent book for planning literacy sessions.

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Book Selection for September

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear
by Lindsay Mattick, Illustrated by Sophie Blackall

When I think about how effectively a picture book can engage even the most reluctant participant at story time, I know that one quality has to stand out –  its ability to relate to the child. Does it make sense? Is the cover intriguing? Does it make you feel something?  Do you – and the child – want to know more?

One glance at the cover of Finding Winnie and we are entranced. What could be more intriguing than a small bear hugging the boot of a soldier? Does a child recognize a baby bear? The booted leg and foot of a human?  The warmth of an embrace? The answer to all of these is probably, yes!

Few know the true story behind the classic character, Winnie-the-Pooh. Surprisingly, A.A.  Milne did not fashion Winnie from his imagination. The author tells the story of her great, great grandfather, a veterinarian during WWI, who rescued a cub, named it after his hometown of Winnipeg, and brought it with the troops traveling through Canada, and across the Atlantic Ocean where they would be stationed in England. Couple this amazing story with award-winning Sophie Blackhall’s artistic rendering of events and characters’ feelings and you have an absolute winner!

There are a multitude of skills waiting to be supported as you pause for book talk within the pages of this loving story.  Encourage early utterances, improve vocabulary, and scaffold a myriad of language constructions. You’ll find a complete narrative structure ideal for teaching storytelling skills. The planning, preparation and goal attainment of the main character are also ideal to highlight in support of various executive functions.

Book Selection for August

The Man Who Didn’t Like Animals
by Deborah Underwood

Now we finally know the backstory of Old MacDonald’s farm!  You see, it all started with this man who didn’t like animals. Really! And it says so right on the cover of this book!

Kids will delight in engaging in Book Talk with this story, as even the youngest can repeat the short lines of text and imitate the sounds of the happy farm animals .

A pig playing Scrabble, a goat reading a book (as it eats the pages), and a dog knitting a sweater while relaxing in its host’s favorite armchair are just a few of the eye popping events transpiring inside this man’s once tidy townhouse.

The book has it all – humor, repetitive sequences, a text that supports the illustrations, and illustrations that tell more than the text.

Much of the story can be “read” through the character’s body language. Award winning artist LeUyen Pham portrays the man who loves his tidy house with hilarious expressions and gestures that are easily interpreted and invite plenty of descriptions.

In addition to working on nonverbal communication and addressing the theme of friendship, it’s a great book for sequencing events and other literate discourse skills such as cause-and-effect relationships and problem solving, as well as  addressing concepts of print and engaging in phonological awareness activities, to name just a few!

Book Selection for July

The Snail and the Whale
by Julia Donaldson, illus. Alex Scheffler

A tale of kindness! Renowned English author Julia Donaldson’s rich use of rhyming verse in a story with a fairly repetitive narrative structure provides a trove of opportunities for working on multiple skills. Just as importantly, her storytelling delivers a touching tale – charming, current, and relevant. It’s one that is sure to engage children’s curiosity, imagination, and participation.

I love that the author has stated it is one of her favorites, as its influence came from her childhood experiences listening to the poems of Edward Lear (i.e. “The Owl and the Pussycat”).

Its themes of friendship, courage, and belief in oneself can be applied to any skill you may be working on. It’s an excellent book to teach concepts of print, as the tiny snail cleverly creates loops and curls with her snail trail, transforming it into script to communicate her message. The author’s word choices, good use of verbs and adjectives, creates opportunities for developing vocabulary and syntax structures. Words from the rhyming text are ideal for phonological awareness activities, All of it is great material for quality Book Talk.

With so much potential to offer support in so many domains of communication and literacy, you can easily extend the activities throughout the month as you build skills and connect them to even more skills. Be sure to check out the additional digital resources for extended activities at the end of the book  treatment.

By using the treatment plan that follows, you can save time analyzing the book for its many possibilities and easily accomplish a variety of speech, language, and literacy objectives all at once. Because of this, I consider The Snail and the Whale to be another one of Book Talk’s powerhouse picture books.

Book Selection for June

Flotsam
by David Wiesner

“Reading the pictures” of a wordless picture book can be an ideal shared book reading experience. It can broaden and deepen a child’s language and literacy learning. Yet the quality of that learning experience ultimately depends on the skill of the facilitator – and that’s you!

In this treatment plan, the adult guides the child through brilliantly rendered images created by three-time Caldecott Award winning artist, David Wiesner. His storytelling is wonderfully rich and multi-layered. Within all those layers of meaning lie the nuggets of opportunity for enriching communication and literacy – and bringing joy through participating in the storytelling.

Like most quality wordless picture books, some of those layers don’t always catch your eye on the first page turn, even with the most careful attention. These kinds of books with multiple picture sequences to a page are often overlooked when selecting material for the younger or multiple needs child. But once you settle in and take your time in a guided experience, the story comes to life – and so does the involvement of your young viewer!

So, get ready to be intrigued by the story of a boy who goes to the beach for scientific intrigue and suddenly discovers an underwater camera washed ashore, like jetsam. This opens up a mysterious journey into the camera’s never-before-seen images of an underwater world of fantastical happenings – and a puzzle the science-minded boy must solve.

One of the book’s great features lies in the opportunity to address unique vocabulary given the concept of magnification. New words can then be linked to known words through the illustrations. There are also opportunities to address nonverbal communication by interpreting facial expressions and body language, and draw inferences to explain the story’s meaning.

By using the treatment plan that follows, you can save time analyzing the book for all its possibilities and easily accomplish a variety of speech, language, and literacy objectives. Because of this, Flotsam is welcomed into Book Talk’s cache of powerhouse picture books.