Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business

Caps for Sale is a timeless classic beloved by millions...one of the most popular picture books ever published! This picture book is an excellent choice to share at home or in the classroom, as children love chanting along with the naughty monkeys.

Children will delight in following the peddler’s efforts to outwit the monkeys and will ask to read it again and again. Caps for Sale is an excellent easy-to-read book that includes repetition, patterns, and colors, perfect for early readers.

This tale of a peddler and a band of mischievous monkeys is filled with warmth, humor, and simplicity and also teaches children about problem and resolution.

This classic picture book will be appreciated as a birthday, baby shower, or graduation gift! It never fails to get preschoolers chanting along and giggling.

Esphyr Slobodkina (1908–2002), internationally renowned artist and author of the children's classic Caps for Sale, was among the first female American artists to explore abstraction and the first to use collage in American storybooks. She studied art in Russia and China before immigrating to the United States in 1928. She was a founding member of the American Abstract Artists group, and her work is represented in prominent museum collections across the country.

In addition to Caps for Sale Slobodkina also wrote and/or illustrated over 24 children’s books. Over the decades she also completed hundreds of paintings and assemblage works that can be found in major museums in the United States.

Before her death in late 2002 Slobodkina left copious notes and illustrations for additional stories. Slobodkina encouraged her assistant and protégé Ann Marie Mulhearn Sayer to carry on her storybook work after Slobodkina’s death. Many of Slobodkina’s story ideas and characters (including Slobodkina herself) are incorporated into the continuing Caps for Sale book series.