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Say it like a snake | Simon and Lucy Morse

I'm really interested in the use of picture books to help children with early speech and language difficulties.  And this book is perfect...




"Say it like a snake" is about a little girl with a speech difficulty.  She can't say the sound "s".  On a trip to the zoo she makes friends with a snake called Sam who helps her to learn the sound "s" as she  goes around the zoo looking at the animals.

The authors are a husband and wife team - Simon is an author and Lucy is a Speech and Language Therapist - a perfect combination for this story - and I can see the beginning of an idea here, maybe more stories to help with other sounds...


We read the story together - a group of 2-4 year olds, one of which has some difficulty with speech sounds.  She loved practicing the "s" sound by hissing like a snake and was confident to join in with all the "s" words in the story.

This book is great for involving all the children - we get to say all the animals' names in the zoo, some of which may be new words - "ssss...eahorse", "ssss...eaweed", "ssss...pider", and we encourage talk by bringing in children's experiences of animals and the zoo.


The illustrations, by Alice Povey, are perfect, simple yet detailed, and we have the opportunity to spot Sam the snake and lots of other animals on the pages.

In the end... well you should read it, but it has a lovely happy ending, and the publishers also support the charity Rays of Sunshine which helps children with serious or life-threatening illness to achieve their dreams.

And summing it up in the words of the children -

"ssss...uper!"

[I was sent a copy of "Say it like a snake" to review by the publishers]

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