Book review: Finn finds his voice

Thursday 29th October 2026

A children's book cover featuring an illustrated fish, against a backdrop showing the bottom of the sea, with coral and other fish surrounding it

STAMMA volunteer Steve Fallon shares his thoughts on the book Finn Finds His Voice by Travis Althouse, for ages 4 to 8 years.

Back in the 1960s, when terrestrial television was about the only visual entertainment available in homes, the major American TV networks would compete with one another in their seasonal lineup of new shows. In September 1964, ABC introduced the world to a quirky and macabre The Addams Family while CBS ushered in The Munsters, a family of benign and comic monsters which included father Herman, who looked like Frankenstein's monster, his wife Lily and her dad, Grandpa, who were both vampires and their son, the young werewolf Eddie.

The odd one out was their niece, Marilyn, who to viewers at home looked like a normal American teenager complete with the blond flip hairdo de rigueur of the time. But to the Munsters, 'poor Marilyn' was an ugly duckling who had to be protected and encouraged to overcome her lack of ghoulish charm and 'unfortunate' looks. It was a world turned upside down.

Such is the premise of Finn Finds His Voice, a children's book written and illustrated by Travis Althouse, a US speech-language pathologist, stammerer and social-media influencer. Finn is an engaging young fish with bulbous eyes who is preparing for his first day of school with trepidation. Apparently every fish in the reef — including his moustachioed father and long-lashed mother — speak with a 'bumpy stutter' while his words flow 'smooth and steady.' But lest the reader interpret those descriptive words as judgement calls, we soon learn that the stammering fish's words tumble and bounce and skip 'like playful waves'. It's all very positive and upbeat, but that's of little solace to Finn who feels to be an outsider.

The drawings and graphics are well-executed but kept simple; clearly words – the voices – are of prime importance here.

Despite brave approaches from classmates including a friendly squid 'who had never heard anyone talk like [Finn] before' and encouraging words from his parents ("different isn't bad, different is just different") Finn keeps silent and to himself. His epiphany comes when a sympathetic teacher commiserates with him about the difficulties of feeling different and announces that her best friend — a non-stammerer — is now the principal of the school. "I'm not alone!" shouts Finn. (I was disappointed that we never get to meet this 'smooth-talking' principal who instills so much confidence in Finn but, alas, he stays out of the picture.)

Finn's enlightenment does not bear immediate results. The following day at school despite feeling 'a tiny spark of courage' Finn again rejects an approach from the same friendly squid. But when he returns to his desk he realises he has the strength to be himself — to use his very own voice despite how strange it sounds to the rest of the reef. He returns to the squid who introduces himself as Ollie. They chat and giggle and become firm fiends. And for once Finn isn't frightened of sounding different. At long last 'he liked using his voice'.

At first it might seem quite a leap of faith to expect a very young child to understand much less accept this 'turning of the tables': that the world is full of stammerers, with non-stammerers very much in the minority. But the language used is simple, direct and inclusive and the use of typography inspired. Apart from the repeating of letters to signify the speech of 's-s-stammerers', the author jumbles others to make stammerers look and sound fun. The drawings and graphics are well-executed but kept simple; clearly words — the voices — are of prime importance here.

In a self-review on the title page, the author describes Finn Finds His Voice as 'an uplifting story about courage, resilience and self-acceptance'. Those words are true; he's hit his mark. But what he doesn't mention is that it's also a fun ride.

Finn Finds His Voice is a self-published book by Travis Althouse and is available to buy from Amazon.

Thank you to Steve for reviewing this book for STAMMA.