One incredibly effective way to support children’s speech and language skills is through book reading. Recognising the profound impact that storytelling can have on language development, a number of Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs) and Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) have taken their expertise beyond the therapy room and into the pages of children’s books. These books are not only engaging and entertaining for children but also serve as invaluable tools for parents and caregivers aiming to support language development at home. In this post, I’m sharing a list of must-read children’s books authored by SLTs and SLPs.
Please Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means I earn a small amount of commission if you purchase any of the books listed in this post. Thank you for supporting my website in this way.
A note about Amazon links: Please be aware, the links are set up to redirect to your local Amazon site. This means, if some books are not available in your country, you will be redirected to a book or product with a similar title. Please double-check before purchasing as you may not be getting the book I mentioned in the post. Many of the books are shown in the images in this post, so you can see which cover to look for. If you’re in the UK, you may need to purchase via Amazon.com instead, as most of the books are available on there and do ship to the UK.
Must-Read Children’s Books for Early Language Skills
1- The Imitation Book by Stephanie Anderson, M.S. CCC-SLP (only available on Kindle via Amazon UK but can get via Amazon US)
This bright and engaging book is great for encouraging imitation of actions and symbolic sounds and exclamatory words. It includes tips and strategies for parents and caregivers to use when reading the book with their child.
2- Let’s Go, Puppy! by Holly Rosensweig (only available on Kindle via Amazon UK, but can order through Ninewise Publishing)
This adorable book encourages early speech sounds and early words while we follow puppy throughout his day. It includes some simple caregiver-friendly strategies to use while reading the book too. The illustrations are gorgeous too and are great for encouraging language skills!
3- Wishy Washy- A First Words and Colors Book by Tabitha Paige
This book is beautifully illustrated and encourages first words. It can be used for single words and phrases, as well as symbolic sounds. This makes a lovely gift for a new baby too!
4- 150 First Words – Britannica and Claire Laties Davis
This book has become my new favourite to take with me to initial assessments for preschoolers! It is perfect for getting a speech and language sample. I also love using it with younger children as we can identify early vocabulary, model symbolic sounds, and so much more.
5- A Day with Daisy by Alexandra Princiotta Lowe (also available in Spanish)
This book is great for sharing with families as it includes 10 language facilitation strategies written in caregiver-friendly terms. Then it follows Daisy as she goes through her day, with examples of her parents using the strategy to encourage her language skills.
6 – Nixon’s Engine Words by Mika Storey
There are nine “Engine Words” (core words) included in this book. The book follows Nixon and his mum as they go about their day, and each page features a new Engine Word accompanied by a caregiver-friendly tip. It is perfect for sharing with families to introduce them to core words and how we can encourage language in our everyday routines.
7- How Does Bunjee Feel? by Josie C. Mott
This engaging lift-the-flap book encourages children imitate a model of a gesture, facial expression, or a word. It also helps develop social emotional skills and colours.
8- My First Learn to Talk Book by Stephanie Cohen
This book is perfect for encouraging early symbolic sounds and exclamatory words. It has real photos and rhyming text which is really engaging for young children.
There’s also a version for Things that Go, and Stephanie has other books for early sounds and words too, check them out here.
9- Talk with Me! The Big Book of Exclamations 2 by Teri Kaminski Peterson
Another great book for encouraging symbolic sounds, exclamatory words, and first words! There are tips and ideas on each page for encouraging the use of gestures, sounds, and words, making it great to share with parents and caregivers too.
Must-Read Children’s Story Books by SLPs
1- Ready Set… Frog! by Katharine Mitropoulos
This book is beautifully illustrated and features a frog called Frogathon Spots (Frog for short), who is trying to prepare for a big race, but he keeps getting interrupted by his friends. It’s a great book to encourage children to understand the importance of looking after their own needs, as well as helping others. It is also very fun for younger children to shout “FROG!” when he gets interrupted!
2- Udder Chaos by Elizabeth Nielsen
This hilarious book follows a farmer as she tries to manage the chaos that has broken out across her farm. It is beautifully illustrated and is a lovely story about perserverance and optimism. It also provides lots of opportunities to model symbolic sounds and exclamatory words! A great addition to any farm theme!
3- The Hairbrush-Dodging Ninja by Linzi Fowler (not available via Amazon US, author’s website linked, not an affiliate link)
This is another hilarious book with brilliant illustrations. It is a story about a young girl called Sophie who hates having her hair brushed. It has a lot of descriptive language which is used to describe how she dodges obstacles and avoids having her hair brushed. This book is ideal for older children working on higher-level language skills. Or you can use it with younger children, and focus more on the illustrations, symbolic sounds, and verbs included throughout.
4- A Day with Mom by Sydney and Pearl Bassard
This story follows Julia and her mum as they spend the day together. From getting ready in the morning, to the book fair, to shopping at the mall, and one final surprise at bedtime. This book is great for sequencing, targeting verbs, and so much more.
5- Liam’s First Cut by Taye Jones
Follow Liam, an autistic Black child as he visits the barbershop for the first time. The story follows Liam as he prepares for the visit, including reading his social story and filling in his visual timetable. This is a fantastic book to read with Neurotypical and Neurodivergent kids alike!
6- The Season of Yes! by Taye Jones
This is a great book for any summer theme in therapy sessions. It follows a young girl called Luce, as she celebrates the start of summer. The beautiful illustrations provide lots of opportunity to focus on verbs and sentence formulation too.
7- You and Me by Caley Nunnally
This book is a celebration of all the things that make us different. It is great for younger children as it provides many opportunities to model symbolic sounds, exclamatory words, and early actions. And it’s great for older children as it encourages perspective taking, and gives opportunities to learn about emotions and problem solving.
Top tip- you don’t need to read every word when reading books with young children!
Check out this post for 5 tips for reading books.
Must-Read Children’s Books Recommended by Other SLPs!
There are so many incredible books written by talented therapists all over the world. Here are more books written and recommended by fellow SLTs/SLPs:
1- It Doesn’t Matter How We Talk by Laura Payne
This is another book which celebrates our differences and what makes us unique. It explains all the varied ways that we communicate and has a positive message throughout. A beautiful addition to any therapy room or clinic waiting room.
2- Bee, Honey Bunny, and Me by Lavelle Carlson
Baby Bunny keeps changing her mind about carrots. Follow Honey Bunny and Leni into dreamland where they learn more about bunnies, bees, and carrots!
See more by Lavelle Carlson, including tips and freebies at https://www.slpstorytellers.com/
3- Can you Drink a Dinosaur? by Cara Tambellini Danielson
This is a silly book which is ideal for young children focusing on yes/no. It has a range of silly and sensible scenarios for children to respond to.
Check out Cara’s other books on Amazon here.
4- What are they Doing? by Molly McIntyre
A great book for targeting verbs, animal names, and early phrases. The beautiful illustrations show animals doing different actions. Perfect to use alongside any animal theme in therapy, or using all year round to encourage verbs and phrase development!
5- Board books by Amanda Schaumburg/Panda Speech (not available on Amazon, not an affiliate link)
These are real lift-the-flap board book versions of Panda Speech’s popular lift-the-flap printable interactive books. Target a range of vocabulary and grammar goals with these interactive board books.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this round-up of children’s books written by Speech and Language Therapists all over the world!
Do you know any other books I should add to this list? Drop a comment below!
Looking for children’s chapter books that have kindness, problem solving, and working together? I’m the published children’s chapter book author of the series: Bruno’s Friendship Chronicles. Bruno, the main character, is a talkative mouse who wears a backpack with fidget tools to help him cope with Big Feelings.💙
Thank you so much for sharing this Carole! What a great idea, they sound brilliant.
For convenience, here’s an Amazon affiliate link to these books: https://amzn.to/3TWQKOj
Thank you!
Another book written by a fellow speech-language pathologist is
“All The Ways Sterling Communicates” by Courtney Peebles. It all about an child going to speech therapy to learn how to use an AAC device. I love to read this book with the parents I work with and their child during a session when brining up to topic of introducing an AAC device. I find this tends to soften and ease the conversation about it why we use it due to all to negative stigmas about AAC devices ( parents wondering if the AAC will keep their child from communicating verbally). GREAT GREAT BOOK!
Thank you so much for all of these recommendations. I look forward to your emails every week and your resources have helped me so much over the years working with the pediatric population! 🙂
Hi Genesis! Thank you so much for your book recommendation, it sounds fantastic- I will definitely check it out.
For convenience for anyone else, here’s an Amazon affiliate link for the book: https://amzn.to/4baN9Dl
Thank you for your kind words too, I am so happy to hear my resources and ideas are helpful for you! 🙂
https://dynamic-resources.org/
Dynamic Resources publishes numerous books written for SLPs by SLPs; they are organized into different series: Read with Me! (targets interactive reading strategies), Word Sprouts (targets early vocabulary and language), Word Menders (targets phonological processes and phonemic awareness), and Core Communication (targets use of core words in a functional, fun context). They also publish wordless books, which I love to use in therapy. All of the books include tips about ways to use them to target speech/language skills as well as free accompanying extension activities on the Learning Library on their website.
Hi Rachel!
Thanks so much for sharing these books and resources. They sound brilliant and great to use for therapy, will definitely check them out! 🙂