Don't judge a book by its cover (if you're brave enough to touch it in the first place)

So, there we were, the 4th grade team, busy at work during a Superintendent's Day when the school librarian burst in the door. Naturally, we frowned at this interruption of our productivity. Said librarian, Sandy Lawrence, has developed an annoying habit of foisting relevant and complementary literature upon us that line up to the Common Core. Ugh! We avoid her like the plague but she still manages to find us. Like a squirrel in the fall, Sandy had been sorting through her supply of stories and apparently felt like sharing the bounty of her harvest. "Here, girls," she shouted, tossing a book into our midst like it was a raw steak among the lions, "I'll let you fight it out." The door swept shut behind her and silence fell upon the room as we looked upon the fallen tome.

In my mind, I already had strategized  the outcome of this little game of literary survivor. The first one to touch it, keeps it, I thought to myself, eyeing the aged cover and worn binding. Rachel tentatively nudged it with the tip of her finger and I cheered with relief.

Now that ownership was clearly established, we now felt free to investigate this little book. Written by Caldecott Medal winner, William Steig, this letter-code puzzle book, (copywrite 1968) challenges readers to use the phonic sounds of letters to decode his pictorial messages. Highly trained educators that we are...well, let's just say that we were not going to be foiled by such foolishness. WRONG. That book beat us down. We had trouble translating the cover! C D B = See the bee (But you already knew that, didn't you?)


Part of the problem was that our 21st century sensibilities and sophistication impeded our interpretations of some pretty simple (and innocent) phrases.  I admit we were shocked when we encountered the F U portion of this puzzle and it took our brains a while to wrestle away from what it would mean today. F U R B-Z = If you are busy, I-L 1 O-A = I'll run away.  Grown women. I know. Kelly Nichol-Dime cracked us all up as she struggled with another letter puzzle:

O U Q-T came quick. Oh, you cutie. But Kelly killed us with the rest. She sounded it out slowly and carefully.  You are a butt. WRONG.