Whether it is a warm summer day or a rainy afternoon, storybooks provide a captivating platform for practicing speech and language skills during the summer months. You can target many speech and language goals with a good children’s book such as the following:
Answering Questions
Vocabulary
Concepts
Sequencing
Narrative Language
Articulation
Making Predictions
Making Inferences
Problem Solving
Perspective Taking
I recently asked members of the Pinwheel Speech Community to share their favorite summer children’s books and how they use them during speech therapy sessions. I received so many responses from the community and learned about several new books. We are truly better together! I have summarized 10 of our favorite summer books and included comments from community members. In addition, you will find many more recommendations from community members at the end of this blog post.
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1. Jabari Jumps
Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall
Summary: This summer book teaches children about overcoming their fears. They also learn about patience and determination as they watch Jabari build up the courage to jump off the diving board.
Why we love it: “I love the book, Jabari Jumps. I love that many of my students see themselves in Jabari and that he overcomes something that’s scary for him. Summer can be scary for some of my friends with the break from routine. Reading this story about having the courage to try is such a great way to end the year before summer.” – Caitlin B.
2. The Red Jacket
The Red Jacket by Bob Holt
Summary: This delightful summer story is about a seagull who finds confidence and friends in his new red jacket. He pays it forward at the end of story by sharing the red jacket with a friend in need.
Why we love it: “I love the message in this story and the illustrations are delightful! You can practice answering questions, vocabulary, making inferences, discussing feelings, perspective taking, and problem solving with your students.” – Melissa
3. Froggy Learns to Swim
Froggy Learns to Swim by Jonathan London
Summary: Unlike most frogs, Froggy is afraid of the water and he doesn’t know how to swim. In this silly story, Froggy learns to swim with a little encouragement and help from his mom. Children learn to conquer their fears as they watch Froggy find the courage to believe in himself and try swimming. This is a great choice for targeting action words, making inferences, sequencing, and articulation skills (R Blends, L Blends, and S Blends).
Why we love it: “I love using Froggy Learns to Swim! A lot of the children I see are around the age of learning to swim so it’s relatable. I like to use it for sequencing, inference and point of view. The dramatic ‘froooogy’ is always sure to get giggles too!” -Morgan
4. Nugget and Fang
Nugget and Fang by Tammi Sauer
Summary: Nugget is a minnow and Fang is a shark but that doesn’t stop them from being friends! When Nugget goes to school, he learns that sharks can’t be trusted. In this sweet story, Fang earns back Nugget’s trust by rescuing the minnows.
Why we love it: “I use this book to teach my students about friendship, understanding emotions, and problem solving. You can also target spatial concepts and the SH sound.” -Jenna
5. Should I Share my Ice Cream?
Should I Share my Ice Cream? by Mo Willems
Summary: This sweet summer story is all about kindness and sharing. Gerald experiences a range of emotions as he decides whether he should share his ice cream with Piggie. In the end, Piggie ends up sharing his ice cream with Gerald! Target perspective taking, making inferences, understanding emotions, and friendship skills.
Why we love it: “I love Should I Share my Ice Cream by Mo Willems! Sharing can be so hard but we learn how to make good decisions and share so our ice cream doesn’t melt. The power of good friends and friendship is strong in this book too. Some of my little buddies have a hard time making friends or learning what makes good friends and Elephant and Piggie help give them some ideas!” – Megan T
“Should I share my ice cream…so many reasons to like this book! great message about sharing, humorous, kids love this book so engagement is high, and it works well with an ice cream theme.” -Beth M
6. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell by Lucille Colandro.
Summary: The Old lady is swallowing beach items in this summer story. It has a fun surprise at the end when she puts all of the items together to make a sandcastle! I love using this book to practice retelling, sequencing, temporal / sequential concepts, and ocean/beach vocabulary. You can also predict what might come out of her mouth at the end of the story!
Why we love it: “There was an old lady who swallowed a shell! My students love reading all the old lady books!” -Barbara Z
7. When Grandma Gives You a Lemon Tree
When Grandma Gives You a Lemon Tree by Jamie L.B. Deenihan
Summary: A little girl receives an unexpected gift for her birthday…a lemon tree. This book is about dealing with disappointment and making lemonade out of lemons. You can target a variety of social skills including understanding emotions, making social inferences, problem solving, determination, and sharing. You can also practice producing /l/ words (lemon, lemonade, lemon tree, lemon juice, etc) with your articulation students.
Why we love it: “My favorite summer picture book is “When Grandma Gives you a Lemon Tree” — it’s obviously loaded with /l/ words which is great for many mixed groups 😉 But there is so much great inferring from pictures that can be done, as well as a bit of a surprise ending! All of my groups I’ve used it with have loved it. I made lemonade with some of my groups which was functional, fun, and a great way to wrap up with that story! It’s a fun one.” – Allison M.
8. A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee
A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusan
Summary: This picture book features colorful illustrations and rhyming text as Mr. Magee and his dog go camping. Practice answering questions, sequencing, recall/retell, describing, comparing/contrasting, predicting, and making inferences.
Why we love it: “My favorite summer book is Mr. Magee and the Camping Spree by Chris VanDusen. I use it for my camping theme in summer, and sometimes fall right when school is starting up. I live in rural Ohio, so many of my kids understand a little bit of the context. The text rhymes, which I love, and there is lots of plot to talk about. The illustrations are top notch, so you can “read” the pictures to simplify the text for littles. It also works well for predicting what will happen next before turning the page–and it’s impossible to guess the plot twists!” – Kim H
9. The Rainbow Fish
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Summary: The Rainbow Fish is the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean but he is also lonely. In this classic ocean themed book, the Rainbow fish overcomes his pride and shares his beautiful scales with the other fish.
Why we love it: Your students will learn about sharing and being a good friend. You can practice vocabulary, answering questions, making inferences, and making predictions. It is also a great book for targeting /r/, /f/, SH, and /s/ blends.
10. How Will We Get to the Beach?
How Will We Get to the Beach? by Brigitte Luciani
Summary: A mother wants to go to the beach, and wants to bring a few things: a turtle, an umbrella, a book, a ball, and of course, her baby. But every time she tries to get to the beach on her bike, she has to leave something behind. What is missing in each picture? Your students will enjoy guessing, and they will also enjoy finding the little ladybug on each page. This fun summer book can be used to practice memory, attention, answering questions, and prepositions.
Why we love it: “How Do We Get To The Beach is a sweet summer book I use with my Life Skills class.” -Kate
And Many More!
There were so many wonderful suggestions but too many to feature so I have listed some of the other summer books that were mentioned below. Once again, thanks to everyone who sent in their recommendations and suggestions!
Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen “It’s full of ocean vocabulary and is great for working on emotions, inferences,and rhymes.” -Holly H
The Sand Castle Contest by Robert Munsch “My favorite summer book is The Sand Castle Contest by Robert Munsch. It’s an adorable story that all my students really enjoy!” -Nomi
Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach by Melanie West “This series helps kids face fears and provides GREAT /r/ targets.” -Elana S
Beach Day by Candice Ransom “It’s full of things to do at the beach and is great for working on actions.” -Holly H
Smug Seagull by Maddie Frost “Smug Seagull is a new favourite 🙂 my kids can relate to the pesky bird stealing fries!” -Lara
Sloths are Slow by Kimberly Marino (Written by an SLP) “My favorite picture book is Sloths are Slow- I won it through a speech giveaway and LOVE it!” -Erica
How Will We Get to the Beach? by Brigitte Luciani “How Do We Get To The Beach is a sweet summer book I use with my Life Skills class.” -Kate
Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
We’re Going on a Picnic by Pat Hutchins
Hot Dog by Doug Salati
Spot Goes to the Beach by Eric HIll
How I Spent my Summer Vacation by Mark Teague
The Night Before Summer Vacation by Natasha Wing
Llama, Llama Sand & Sun by Anna Dewdney
Goodbye Spring Hello Summer by Kenard Pak
Turkey’s Sandtastic Beach Day By Wendi Silvano
Ice Cream Face by Heidi Woodward Sheffield
Kipper’s Sunny Day by Mick Inkpen
Possum Magic by Mem Fox
Pete the Cat: Pete at the Beach by Kimberly and James Dean
The Cool Bean Makes a Splash by Jory John
Flotsam by David Wiesner
Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea by Jan Peck
Swimmy by Leo Lionni
Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni
Big Al by Andrew Clements
Over and Under the Waves by Kate Messner
What are YOU reading?
I’m always looking for more ideas and I would love to know YOUR favorite summer picture book! Please comment below! Also, if you are interested in joining the Pinwheel Speech Community, you can CLICK HERE.
