CDC?

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title: "CDC?" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1984-children's-books", "american-picture-books", "books-by-william-steig", "puzzle-books"] description: "1984 children's book by William Steig" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDC?" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1984 children's book by William Steig ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox book"]

Field	Value
italic title
name	CDC?
image	Cdcxslr810.jpg
caption	Book cover
author	William Steig
illustrator	William Steig
cover_artist	William Steig
country	United States
language	English
genre	Children's book
publisher	FSG
pub_date	1984
media_type	Print
preceded_by	CDB!
followed_by
::

| italic title = | name = CDC? | image = Cdcxslr810.jpg | image_size = | border = | alt = | caption = Book cover | author = William Steig | audio_read_by = | title_orig = | title_working = | illustrator = William Steig | cover_artist = William Steig | country = United States | language = English | series = | release_number = | subject = | genre = Children's book | set_in = | publisher = FSG | publisher2 = | pub_date = 1984 | published = | media_type = Print | pages = | awards = | isbn = | isbn_note = | oclc = | dewey = | congress = | preceded_by = CDB! | followed_by = | native_wikisource = | wikisource = | notes = | exclude_cover = | website =

CDC? is a children's puzzle book written and illustrated by author and cartoonist William Steig. Originally published in 1984, it is a sequel to his 1968 picture book CDB! and is of the same concept: letters and numbers that suggest the sounds of words or phrases are printed as captions for interpretive cartoons. The reader guesses what the letters and numbers are supposed to represent in actual words: the book's title, for example, represents the question "See the sea?"

About the book

The book is somewhat more sophisticated in content than CDB!, using more complicated phrases. According to Steig's obituary in The New York Times, even some adults found the captions challenging.

The book, in its 1984 release, was originally printed in black-and-white and was republished and re-released with pen-and-ink watercolor-style pictures and an answer key at the end. To figure out the word puzzles, the reader needs to read the letters, numbers, and symbols aloud, pronouncing their names, not sounding them out. The picture accompanying each puzzle helps give the reader hints about the coded phrase.

References

References

1. (October 5, 2003). "William Steig, 95, Dies; Tough Youths and Jealous Satyrs Scowled in His Cartoons". [[The New York Times]].
2. [https://www.amazon.com/C-D-Sunburst-Book/dp/0374410240 Amazon.com]
3. [http://media.families.com/blog/c-d-b-and-c-d-c-william-steig Media.Families.com]

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