Nia loves Alfie, her pet turtle. But he’s not very soft, he doesn’t do tricks, and he’s pretty quiet. Sometimes she forgets he’s even there—that is, until the night before her seventh birthday, when . . . Alfie disappears! Where did he go? And why? Nia can’t say . . . but Alfie can. This is his story, and the narrative switches to Alfie’s perspective, as the brave turtle goes on the hunt for the perfect gift for Nia’s birthday. He explores the house, encountering the family dog, then ventures out onto the fire escape, down into the yard, and through a sandbox until he grows cold and tired. A friendly snail suggests that Alfie take a nap in the pond in the yard.
This adorable pets-themed book can be used in speech therapy to target character analysis, predicting, and themes of friendship and perseverance. It is also great for inferencing, perspective taking and for targeting sounds including /lf/, /n/ and /g/! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Alfie in speech therapy below: