Sound-Loaded Storybooks for Articulation- Find ’em Here by Phoneme!

Here’s why you should be using great sound-loaded books for articulation practice in speech therapy.

• Your students are engaged
• You can target multiple goals with a single book
• You can easily incorporate articulation. language and literacy skills too
• Works beautifully for mixed groups
• Very little planning, saving you time

The best reason of all? It’s just plain fun!

I needed a comprehensive list of sound-loaded books to use in my new speech therapy program

When a colleague and I started our intensive preschool speech therapy program, we had to design it pretty much from scratch. We wanted to incorporate literature in our two-hour sessions. So the hunt was on for books that worked well for each phoneme.

It’s really difficult to find books for specific phonemes in the library.

Even if a target word appears in the title, it doesn’t necessarily repeat very often in the text.

Still, a creative SLP reading to preschoolers can throw in target words more often than is actually written in the text, and I certainly do that!

I haunted the library, consulted what lists I could find, and developed my own go-to lists.

My criteria? I was looking for sound-loaded books that:

1.  Repeat a specific phoneme/blend over and over, or has plenty of opportunities to insert it!
2. The target word is a simple word shape (CV, VC, CVC, CVCV, CCVC, CVCC) to help support my kids with apraxia and severe speech sound disorders.
3. Has a great story with engaging illustrations. I am visual, and so are preschoolers!
4. Has simple, repetitive text when possible. LOVE these.
5. Has lots of language opportunities, lending itself to discussing basic concepts, object function,  past tense, -ing verbs, theme vocabulary, wh questions, and more.

Below is a sampling of my favorite sound-loaded books for articulation

There are many more titles in the full list, which is a freebie you can download in my store on TpT Sound-Loaded Book List for Articulation

Initial ch books

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault

Tippy-Toe Chick, Go! By Laura Dronzek

Itchy, Itchy Chicken Pox by Grace Maccarone

Initial /f/ books

Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone (repeats “fast”)

The Fire Station by Robert Munsch

The Foot Book by Dr Seuss

Final /f/ books

Three Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Galdone

Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone

Give Me Half by Stuart Murphy (great for cthe oncept of “half” too)

Initial /g/ books

The Day the Goose Got Loose by Reeve Lindenbergh

Three Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Gladone

Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberly

Final /g/ books

Hello Red Fox by Eric Carle

A Frog in a Bog by Karma Wilson

Big Egg by Molly Coxe

Initial /h/  books

Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

The Little Red Hen by Rebecca Allen

Initial “j” books

Jack and the Beanstalk by Stella Williams Nathan

Hop Jump by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw

Initial /k/  books

Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss

Three Little Kittens by Paul Galdone

Final /k/ books

Duck on a Bike by David Shannon

One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root

Shake my Sillies out by David Allender

/l/ books

The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle

Llama Llama, Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney

It looked like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw

Initial /m/  books

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Joffe Numeroff (I insert “moose” for the pronoun. If the moose…)

Initial /p/ books

Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allen Ahlberg

The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone

Pickles in My Soup by Mary Pearson

/ps/ books

Caps For Sale By Esphyr Slobodkina

Mama Cat Has Three Kittens by Denise Fleming (repeats naps)

One Pups Up by Marsha Wilson Chall (change puppies to pups when reading)

Initial /r/ books

The Big Red Farm by Cristianne C. Jones

A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman

The Little Mouse, the Red, Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Don & Audrey Wood

Vocalic r books

Aaron’s Hair by Robert Munsch

Are You My Mother? By P.D. Eastman

Bear Feels Scared by Karma Wilson

Initial /s/ books

Silly Sally by Audrey Wood

Final /s/ books

The Day the Goose Got Loose by Reeve Lindenbergh

Initial sh books

Shoo, Fly! By Joy Cowley

Sheep on a Ship by Nancy Shaw

Smiley Shark by Ruth Galloway * (Speech Sprouts has a book companion)

Final sh books

A Big Fish Story

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Phister

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss

/sm/ books

In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming

Big Smelly Bear by Britta Teckentrup

Smiley Shark by Ruth Galloway

/sn/ books

Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson

Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner * (Speech Sprouts has a book companion)

Stand Back Said the Elephant, I’m Going to Sneeze by Patricia Thomas

/sp/ books

I Love Spiders by John Parker

The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Keith Chapman * (Speech Sprouts has a book companion)

Where’s Spot? By Eric Hill

/st/ books

Sticky People by Tony Johnston

Stone Soup by Anne McGovern and Winslow Pinney Pels

Draw Me a Star by Eric Carle

Initial /t/ books

Ten Apples on Top

Five Teddy Bears by Anne Adeney

Who Wants a Teddy Bear? By Ginne Hofman

Final /t/ books

I Went Walking by Sue Williams

The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat by Nurit Karlin

Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne and H.A. Rey

Initial /w/ Books

The Wheels on the Bus (any version)

The Wee Little Woman by Byron Barton

Mrs. Wishy Washy by Joy Cowley and Elizabeth Fuller

Syllableness books

Five Little Monkeys Swinging From a Tree” by Eileen Christelow

Five Teddy Bears by Anne Adeney & Cathy Shimmen

Monkey and the Elephant by Carole Lexa Schaefer

Think book companions if you need ready-to-go materials to go with your favorite stories.

These sound-loaded books are great on their own, but to save time planning, I think you’ll love book companions.

When you download the free book list, look for books marked with an asterisk * that indicates that I have a book companion available for that book. 

Here are a couple of book companions you may like:

I hope you enjoy exploring these books!

Get my free complete Sound-Loaded Books for Articulation list

Don’t forget to download the complete  Sound-Loaded Books for Speech Therapy List in my TpT store. You’ll find many more book suggestions, all sorted by target phonome. If you download this freebie, I would love to have your review. Happy reading!