Long before texting made use of single letters to convey a word there was William Steig and his delightful book C D B! I loved this book in the (ahem) sixties, and I love it today. It's a 'must read out loud' sort of book, even it's just to the dog. And, if there are some you can't figure out, there is an answer key at the back of the book.

In a recent rerun of Frasier there was a turn of phrase that had two interpretations, either "seek help" or "sea kelp". Both fit the situation and always made me chuckle. Then I found I Scream, Ice Cream!: a Book of Wordles, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Serge Bloch. According to the author, wordles are a group of words that sound the same but mean different things and there are several examples here. Some seem a bit of a stretch (to me, anyway), and my favorite was not included, but overall, not a bad book. :-)

If you enjoy codes and puzzles, take a look at this book: Look! What Do You See? An Art Puzzle Book of American & Chinese Songs, by Xu Bing and illustrations by Becca Stadtlander. Look at the pictures, study the symbols very carefully and I'm betting you'll figure them out! I figured out the American songs, the Chinese songs took me a bit longer (I'll admit, knowing the melody helps). I'm hoping the 'youngins' of today are learning these older songs .... a sign of my age, I'm sure. :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog