Caps for Sale
Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business is a children's picture book, written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina and published by W. R. Scott in 1940.[1]
 The cover of a late edition of Caps for Sale. | |
| Author | Esphyr Slobodkina |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Esphyr Slobodkina |
| Cover artist | Esphyr Slobodkina |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Publisher | W. R. Scott |
Publication date | 1940 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 48 |
| ISBN | 978-0064431439 |
| OCLC | 13008528 |
| Followed by | Pezzo the Peddler and the Circus Elephant (Circus Caps for Sale) |
Summary
Based on a folktale, the story follows the life of a mustachioed cap selling street vendor (unnamed in the book, he is known as Pezzo in the sequels Circus Caps for Sale and More Caps for Sale) who wears his entire stock of caps on his head. He (in this story) carried wares on his head instead of a real street vendor that carries wares on their backs (or in a selling container such as a wagon or wheelbarrow) in reality. The set of caps consist of his own checked (or checkerboard) cap, followed with a bunch of caps from each specific color. The peddler's checked cap is followed with a bunch of green (or gray) caps, a bunch of yellow (or brown) caps, a bunch of blue caps, and finally a bunch of red caps on the very top. He strolls through towns and villages saying (if they want a cap), "Caps! Caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap!"[2]
The peddler could not sell any caps. Nobody wanted a cap that morning. Nobody even wanted a red one. All the people in the town (not wanting caps) were probably sleeping. He began to feel very hungry. But he had no money for food.
One day, the peddler sits down under a tree to take a nap, with all his wares still on his head. When he awakens, all the caps but his own (which is his own checked cap) are missing. He looked in the front, the back, the left, and the right of him, but there were no caps. But when he looked up in the tree, he saw a troupe of monkeys. He finds the monkeys who are now sitting in the tree and have stolen and are now wearing his caps. On every branch there was a monkey and on every one was a green, a yellow, a blue, or a red cap. The peddler then spoke to them. He orders them to return his caps. So he starts a little game (a little trick) to get the no-good monkeys to give him back his caps. He scolds them, and yells at them (saying the same thing, "YOU MONKEYS YOU! YOU GIVE ME BACK MY CAPS!"; shaking a finger, shaking both hands, and stamping his foot), while the monkeys refuse and ignore his warning. Instead, they imitate him doing the same actions as him (saying, "Tsz, tsz, tsz!"). At the last point, the peddler (who was really, very, very angry) shouted, "YOU MONKEYS YOU! YOU MUST GIVE ME BACK MY CAPS!". But one last time, the monkeys refused. They stamped both of their feet back at him and imitated him (and said, "TSZ, TSZ, TSZ!"). Finally, he becomes furious that he throws down his own cap in disgust and walked away. At this, the monkeys throw down theirs as well, right at his feet.
After the monkeys give the peddler back his caps, they leave. The peddler stacks up the caps and puts them back on his head (first the bunch of green caps, then the yellow caps, then the blue caps, and the red caps from the very top). Then that afternoon, the peddler strolls back to town, where he starts calling once again, "Caps! Caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap!". [2]
Popularity
It is Slobodkina's best-known work, and has sold more than two million copies.[3] Caps for Sale is a popular read-aloud book, because its repetitive text permits children to speak the lines and thus join in the reading experience.
It won a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958.[4]
History
The earliest known account of the story may be found The Wilmington Centinel published in Wilmington, North Carolina January 8, 1789.[5] "According to the following relation from a person just returned from the Labrador coast, the imitative faculty in monkeys seems to exceed every thing short of human. –A sailor having a number of red woolen caps, &c to dispose of among the natives, went on shore for that purpose ; his way to a settlement lying through a woods very copiously inhabited by the species abovementioned, and it being mid day, put a cap on his head, and laying the others by his side, he determined upon a little repose under the shade of a plantain tree. To his utter astonishment, when he awoke, from the specimen he had given his imitative observers of the use of his caps, he beheld a number of them upon the heads of the monkeys on the trees, round about him, while the wearers were chattering in an unusual manner. Finding every attempt to regain them fruitless , he at length in a fit of rage and disappointment, and under the supposition the one he retained was not worth taking away, &c. pulled the same from his head, and throwing it upon the ground exclaimed ---“ here d—n you, take it among ye,” which he had no sooner done, than to his great surprise, the observant monkeys did the same, by which means he regained the greatest part of his property."
Other media
Caps for Sale was included as one of five stories on the 1986 VHS release Five Stories for the Very Young from Weston Woods Studios, animated using illustrations from the book.[6] An unrelated animated version was released on Scholastic's 2007 collection Scholastic Storybook Treasures on DVD.
References
- "Caps for sale" (first edition). Library of Congress Online Catalog (catalog.loc.gov). Retrieved 2015-09-27.
- Raines, Shirley; Canady, Robert (1989). Story Stretchers: Activities to Expand Children's Favorite Books. p. 158. ISBN 9780876591192.
- Goldman, Ari (July 27, 2002). "Esphyr Slobodkina, Artist And Author, Is Dead at 93". Retrieved August 1, 2015.
- Patrick, Alisha. "ESPHYR SLOBODKINA (1908-2002)". Sullivan Goss. Archived from the original on July 4, 2012. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
- "Bowen and Howard (1789)".
- "Five stories for the very young". WorldCat. Retrieved 23 May 2020.