Caps for Sale! Fifty Cents a Cap!

"By this time the peddler was really very, very angry. He stamped both his feet and shouted, 'You monkeys, you! You must give me back my caps!'
But the monkeys only stamped both their feet back at him and said, 'Tsz, tsz, tsz.'"

At some point in their life, I think everyone has had some experience with LeVar Burton's Reading Rainbow. A cornerstone of my childhood television-watching career (not including the disney channel which pretty much took over everything by the time I was 8), LeVar Burton introduced me to a book which has recently come back into my life: Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. In this book, the peddler's caps are taken by a band of monkeys and must learn to cope and overcome their monkey business (monkey see, monkey do!). This book was first published in 1940, and like Cleary's Henry Huggins, this is a timeless classic. I'm taken with the fact that Esphyr Slobodkina "Told & Illustrated" this story, instead of just wrote and illustrated. Writing is telling, it's weaving a story that can be passed down from generation to generation.

The repetitive text is great for getting kids involved, especially young audiences who are learning about books and excited to be part of the reading experience. Echo reading and choral reading as well as some dramatization is so much fun for beginning readers. There are opportunities for predictions and prior knowledge as well as big surprises for first-time readers. As a side note, I always thought it was a little strange that the peddler walks through the town peddling his caps, but the entire town is empty - not a single person in sight. No wonder he can't sell any caps to buy his lunch! The countryside is inhabited with monkeys, not people! While seemingly random, it's a light-hearted story that has certainly stayed with me over the years. Of course there are other lovers of Caps for Sale as well. Here is the link to a webquest created just for this book! Caps for Sale?