It’s Story Time! “Caps For Sale”

There are certain books, from childhood, that resonate with me. Caps For Sale is one of them. I can’t believe it’s over 75 years since this book was released! 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.

Based on a folktale, the story follows the life of a mustachioed cap salesman who wears his entire stock of caps on his head; they consist of his own checked cap, then a bunch of green caps, a bunch of yellow caps, a bunch of blue caps and finally a bunch of red caps on the very top. He strolls through towns and villages chanting,

“Caps! Caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap!”

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 are gone — stolen by a troop of monkeys, who now sit in the tree wearing them (every monkey has a green, a yellow, a blue, or a red cap). The peddler orders them to return his caps, scolds them, and yells at them, while the monkeys only imitate him. The peddler becomes so angry and he finally throws down his own cap in disgust. However, the monkeys throw theirs down as well, right at his feet. Then there’s a whole lot of monkey business in between…

What was one of your favorite childhood stories?

Source: YouTube and Wikipedia