Caps for Sale

A ridiculous, hysterical old tale of a hat salesman who loses his hats to a bunch of monkeys and has to find a way to get them back.

I use to imitate the salesman and the monkeys while reading this book to my young daughter with a heavy Italian accent. I had more fun reading it out loud than any other book I’ve read. 

I’ve loved this book since I was a child and have read it to many children since then who love it too. It starts as it ends, with a peddler selling caps which he carries on his head and I appreciate that circularity in the story. There’s a problem to do with monkeys and stealing that is solved not through reason or logic but through raw emotion, which gives the story a great twist and really makes readers laugh. I’ve always found the rustic pictures with rural scenes in subtle colours so pleasing to explore. They are simple but there’s… show more.

This book has my favorite mischief-makers: monkeys! But what I love about these little imps is that, like all great antagonists, their actions are not out of malice; they are just being themselves. This book is also a great lesson to humans, teaching us that, in times of great frustration, sometimes to overcome our obstacles, we just need to take a different approach. It’s no wonder Ms. Slobodkina’s book has been a classic for over 80 years.