Chapter 5: The TCH Trap Crunch & Thunder crossed a bridge. Then sticky vines slid from the ridge. SNATCH! ITCH! MATCH! PATCH! The cats got tangled in the hatch. Crunch said, “Thunder, we must get out, we must detach!” Thunder replied, “I am tangled too tight, I cannot unlatch.” “These vines are made of sticky words.” Crunch explained, “If we read them, we might uncatch.” “I cannot read trigraph words!” Thunder objected Neither could Crunch; he was a bit distracted. A cricket hopped beside a ditch. “When short vowels come before /ch/, Use T-C-H to make it rich! “Itch and hatch, Match and patch, TCH helps the words attach!” “But lunch and branch?” asked little Crunch “Those use the di-graph, CH!” the cricket chirped. It took some practice, but it worked! “Not every word follows the pack. That’s why we always look back!” With the cricket’s help, they learned to read, And not long after, the two were freed.
