
Here’s what to look for when hunting the best books for speech therapy:
The best speech therapy books offer plenty of opportunities to work on speech and language skills. It’s a huge bonus when the story is sound-loaded for articulation too.
Here’s what I look for:
- An engaging, relatable story
- Interesting pictures to talk about
- Repetitive text (great for little ones)
- Sound-loaded for articulation practice
- Rhyming text is wonderful too.
Summertime means there’s plenty of time to find some great books for speech therapy.
Now I can head to the library with plenty of time to peruse the stacks all I want. For this book-lover, that’s a treat! So have I found a great mystery to read? Science fiction maybe? Or perhaps a biography? Well…no.
My first trip to the library yielded an armload of children’s stories.
I don’t even have any little ones at home. I’ll go back and find that perfect summer read for me, just not yet. I can’t resist discovering a few storybooks for my little ones in speech therapy, while I have the time.
If you’ve read about my free Sound-Loaded Storybooks for Articulation list you know I love using terrific children’s books for speech therapy. So now I have some new gems to share with you.

Today’s sound-loaded find is Peck, Peck, Peck by Lucy Cousins.
This adorable book is totally loaded with final /k/ words. The story is about a little woodpecker who learns to peck. He’s growing up, and it’s time to learn new things.
This fun book repeats the word “peck” a bunch, as the little guy ventures out and pecks everything in sight! Perfect for auditory bombardment.
In this book, it’s the daddy is who teaches the youngster and tells him how great he is.
I love that.
We need more children’s books where the father is the teacher and nurturer. So many of my children at school don’t have a daddy at home every day, and I love having them read about a good fatherly role model.

So off the little woodpecker goes, out into the world to practice.
He finds a gate to peck and makes a hole right through it. Then he spots a big blue door. This can’t be good!
As the little woodpecker makes holes in everything he sees, the word “peck” is repeated constantly.
It’s also printed on the page next to everything the woodpecker is pecking.
I like to work on print awareness with my preschoolers, so this is great. I have them point to the word “peck” on each page. We take note of the “k” on the end of the word, and practice making the sound it spells. Lots of velar practice.
The text rhymes, as many of the best books for speech therapy do.
We work on listening for rhymes as we point out rhyming pairs. Then we generate a few new rhymes to go with them. Wait and gate, door and more, hat and mat. Perfect!
It’s lots of fun seeing the growing number of holes in the pages.
The little woodpecker works his way through an armchair, a teddy bear, and even a book named Jane Eyre. Yup, rhyming words make me smile.
Maybe we’ll count the holes. For sure, we’ll talk about the words “a few, more and most” targeting the quantity concept of time.

My children love characters that do something a bit wrong.
The little woodpecker heads to the bathroom and pecks some blue shampoo, and he even pecks the toilet too! Eww! The kids love that. It’s just the right amount of gross.
As the woodpecker heads through the house, we talk about each room, and what he might find there. Great for categorization.
This is why I love children’s books, there are so many natural opportunities to teach language concepts.
Finally, there’s nothing left to peck.
The little woodpecker is tired out, and he’s ready to head home. He tells his daddy about his day. About the many, many holes he’s made and how much he loved it.
Daddy tucks him in, tells him he loves him, and gives him a kiss. So sweet.
This book is now on the top of my list when we do a final /k/ unit.
I hope you can find this wonderful storybook in your library. I know I’ll be checking out more stories by this author, Lucy Cousins.
If you’re looking for more fun books, read my review of Press Here by Herve’ Tullet. Click this link, Best-Ever Books For Speech Therapy: Press Here. It’s sure to be a favorite of any child who reads it.
What are your favorite storybooks for speech therapy with preschoolers and kindergarteners?
I’m always looking for more suggestions.
Hope you have lots of time to enjoy a good book if you’re on break, or soon to be. You can find more of my favorites for littles here: Storybooks.
Looking for more sound-loaded storybooks for speech therapy?
Head over to this post, I have a huge list for you. Sound-loaded Books for Articulation
Until next time, happy reading!