''CDB!'' is a children's picture book written and illustrated by

William Steig William Steig ( ; November 14, 1907 – October 3, 2003) was an American cartoonist, illustrator and writer of children's books, best known for the picture book ''Shrek!'', which inspired the Shrek (franchise), film series of the same name, as we ...

, who later won the

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

in 1970 for ''

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble ''Sylvester and the Magic Pebble'' is a children's book, children's picture book written and illustrated by William Steig, and published in 1969. It won the Caldecott Medal in 1970. Plot Sylvester Duncan, a young donkey from the fictional commu ...

''. The book, published in 1968 by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, is a collection of pictures with captions written in

code In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...

, with letters in the caption standing for words the letter's names sound like ( gramograms). The illustrations that accompany the codes show scenes that help the reader decode the caption. The cover illustration shows a child pointing out a bee to another child. The title, ''CDB!'', thus translates as "See (CEE) the (DEE) bee (BEE)!" The book was updated by Steig over thirty years after its original publication with the addition of color to the illustrations, as well as an answer key at the end. Steig followed this book with a sequel, '' CDC?''

Reception

Richard F. Abrahamson, writing in ''The Reading Teacher'', commented, "For the child who is playing with language and sounds, this book is hilarious." Lilian H. Heil, in ''Children's Book and Media Review'', wrote that ''CDB!'' "is as entertaining to adults as it is to children." Steven Heller cites ''CDB!'' as having predicted the rise of

SMS language Short Message Service (SMS) language or textese is the abbreviated language and slang commonly used in the late 1990s and early 2000s with mobile phone text messaging, and occasionally through Internet-based communication such as email and ins ...

(textspeak), writing, "For over forty years this book has both perplexed and excited its young and old readers, offering challenges and frustrations with a satisfying punchline. In the original Windmill paperback edition, a summary of the book reads as follows: 'Letters and words are used to create the sounds of words and simple sentences 4 u 2 figure out with the aid of illustrations.' This is a fairly accurate description of SMS-speak."

Legacy

Other artists have specifically taken Steig's ''CDB!'' as the inspiration for their books of cartoons captioned with gramograms, including Joana Avillez and Molly Young, whose ''D C-T!'' features cartoons about New York ("D C-T" translates as "the city"); and Amy Sohn, whose ''CBD!'' features cartoons about

cannabidiol Cannabidiol (CBD) is a phytocannabinoid, one of 113 identified cannabinoids in ''Cannabis'', along with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and accounts for up to 40% of the plant's extract. Medically, it is an anticonvulsant used to treat multiple f ...

. Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld's ''Wumbers'' was dedicated to Steig and cited ''CDB!'' as its inspiration; ''Wumbers'' combined regular words with numbers to substitute for their sounds, such as "Would you like some honey 2 swee10 your tea?" The book's title inspired the name of a chain of pizzerias in the

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

area, CDB Pizza, which operated from 1975 to 2019. The pizzeria kept copies of the book on tables for customers to read. Many copies were taken, resulting in the restaurateurs buying 15,000 copies of the book over the years.

References

1968 children's books Books by William Steig American picture books Puzzle books {{child-picture-book-stub