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.

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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.

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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!

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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 April

Hope is the Thing with Feathers
by Emily Dickinson, illustrated by Tim Hopgood

April is designated National Poetry Month in the United States and Canada. (In the United Kingdom it is celebrated in October, and in Australia, in August, to list a few.) But you can celebrate poetry during any month of the year with exceptional books for children that introduce them to this unique literary genre. And what better time to read a story about hope as it shown for all people of the world, no matter what their circumstances, than today?

Award-winning UK illustrator, Tim Hopgood, brings to life Emily Dickenson’s classic lyric poem about Hope in images that will inspire children to engage with the story and its meaning. Colorful artwork of pencil, chalk and ink depicts a bird and its song bringing hope to people around the world in this book from the Picture-a-Poem series.

Children can follow the bird from its branch outside a young girl’s window, across the world, and then home again. The little bird never stops singing its song, never gives up hope, no matter how difficult the storm. It tells us that hope can live in the lives and hearts of people anywhere and everywhere. And it doesn’t ask for anything in return.

The language of poetry, with its use of metaphors and often obscure words, can be challenging for young children and the more concrete language learners. By telling the story in the illustrations, children create the meaning of the poem. Later, during a second reading, metaphors can more readily be understood as they are matched to the story in pictures. The story is easy to follow, so when you return to the beginning pages, children can relate a sequence of events into a whole story.

You’ll have other excellent opportunities to support communication development, including skills of vocabulary, grammar and syntax, morphological suffixes, articulation, voice, and fluency. That’s why I’ve called this edition of Hope is the Thing with Feathers one of Book Talk’s powerhouse picture books.

Book selection for March

Knight Owl
by Chistopher Denise

Welcome March! The month of St. Patrick’s Day brings little caricatures and symbols from Irish lore into children’s learning in fun and magical ways. It’s a great time for a book about medieval castles, knights in armor, and a little owl with big ambitions to reach his most ardent goal. Once achieved, see him save his medieval town from a magnificent dragon – without needing his mighty lance!

Extraordinary, Caldecott Award-winning illustrations along with the low-text storyline offer unique opportunities for shared book reading. You can easily extend the activities here in Book Talk throughout the month as you help build skills and connect them to even more skills!

The story is reminiscent of the old trickster tales, where the clever protagonist outsmarts his or her rival. Only in this story, the tiny protagonist doesn’t send his foe running off, vanishing into the forest. Instead, tiny Owl builds bridges with common interests to achieve a special friendship with the daunting dragon. Oh, what a knight!

With such a tiny Owl at the top the castle battlements, the book’s cover may make it seem geared only for younger children. But clever wordplay and opportunities for vocabulary associated with medieval times make it entertaining even for older children. There are plenty of nuances to point out within the illustrations, which is a real benefit when working with multiple learners of varying age groups.

One of the book’s great features is its opportunity to address unique vocabulary given all the words associated with castles, like battlements and towers, and medieval equipment, such as armor, lances, swords and catapults. There are also excellent opportunities to address social communication skills, such as making friends, finding commonality, topic initiation, and turn-taking. The book is a treasure trove for addressing a whole range of skills!

Engaging children in these kinds of stories teaches them the elements of storytelling, a literate style of language needed for academic success. This is why finding books with interesting stories not only engages children in Book Talk, it teaches them story schema. Using language to relate a story is talk that describes what happens in the life of another character, in a situation once removed from the child’s own experiences. This is language discourse.     (Continued…..)

Love is My Favorite Thing
by Emma Chichester Clark

What could be better for a fun, February read-aloud than a book about love – unconditional love?  That’s exactly what Love is My Favorite Thing is all about!

You may be familiar with the British children’s book author/illustrator, Emma Chichester Clark, one of England’s most distinguished picture book creators. She has over 60 books to her name, including the popular series, I Love You Blue Kangaroo. If this is your first experience with her work, then it is my pleasure to introduce you to a book that it is thoroughly delightful.

Children will enjoy relating to the adorable dog, Plum, as she shows us her favorite things, like treats, her bed, and catching sticks. The exuberant little Plummie also explains that she gets herself into trouble now and then with her naughty (and laughable) antics. When the family shows that they are not happy about this, it leaves the wide eyed Plummie remorseful, wondering if she is still loved. Of course, we see she certainly is, and that’s when she tells us that Love is her absolute favorite thing.

To no surprise, Plum is the author’s real life dog. Her blog site, Plumdog Blog, is well worth a visit. Find the link at the end of the book treatment, along with links to more activities.

One of the book’s unique features is its point of view, written in the voice of Plum. The illustrations are perfect for Book Talk, as even the youngest children can keep track of Plum at each page turn and provide responses you help scaffold about her actions. The repetitive text on certain pages is ideal for modeling early language structures. With more talk about the story, you can focus on skills such as problem solving and relating an episode to support storytelling. You’ll also appreciate the theme of favorite things to work on categories in contextual ways that help develop strong systems for academic language.

Book selection for January

Lost and Found
by Oliver Jeffers

Happy New Year!  What could be better than to start it off with a heartwarming story about friendship?

You already may be familiar with the animated movie adaptation narrated by Jim Broadbent. A boy from a quaint little seaside town answers his door one morning to find an unexpected visitor on his doorstep – a penguin!  Because it looks sad, the boy figures it must be lost. So, he sets out to help it find its way home. What he comes to realize in returning it to the South Pole (where, of course, penguins are from) is that the penguin was not lost at all. That’s when friendship is found.

The low-text picture book features vivid watercolor illustrations by multiple award-winner Oliver Jeffers. His unique style is sure to delight, and as always, his message prompts thinking about what really matters. As with all books selected for Book Talk, the pictures provide more language opportunities than the text alone.

Coincidentally, a news story last November reported on an emperor penguin that mysteriously showed up on a tourist beach in Australia, barely alive. Puzzled marine biologists wondered how he swam over 2,000 miles from the Antarctica, the only geographic location where the species are known to be found. To anyone’s knowledge, it was the first time an emperor penguin ever had! But, as with our story here on Book Talk, help it they must!