Picture Books We Love: Caps For Sale

Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina is the story of a cap peddler.  Unable to sell his caps, he goes for a walk in the country and settles down under a tree for a nap.  When he goes to sleep, he has his own checked cap and all 16 caps for sale on top of his head.  When he wakes up, though, all but his own checked cap are missing!  Looking up, he finds 16 monkeys in the tree, each wearing a cap on his head.  He shakes his finger at the monkeys demanding his caps.  They do the same.  He shakes his fists at them.  They do the same.  He stamps one foot.  They do the same.  He stamps both feet.  They do the same.  Finally, he throws down his cap in frustration and anger.  The monkeys do the same.  So, the peddler picks up his caps, puts them back on his head, and returns to town.

We have so much fun with this story.  Sometimes, we just pretend to be monkeys.  Sometimes, we pretend to be the peddler and check that we have our caps on top of our heads and march around, shouting, "Caps!  Caps for sale!  50 cents a cap!"  And, of course, we always enjoy a game of Money See, Monkey Do!  There is also a wonderful two-page illustration of the monkeys wearing the caps in the trees that we like to use for counting practice, too!

I don't recall reading other works by Esphyr Slobodkina.  If you have and you enjoyed them, please let me know!