Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business (by Esphyr Slobodkina)

Esphyr Slobodkina's retelling of the old folktale gently motors the story forward while introducing fun repetitions: "First he had on his own checked cap, then a bunch of gray caps, then a bunch of brown caps, then a bunch of blue caps, and on the very top a bunch of red caps." Slobodkina's line drawings have the colors of earth and sky, plus a lively barn red. The scene is an Eastern European village, caught on a drowsy day with only the peddler about. The illustrations are so convincingly drawn that readers will feel they know the place.

The tale's rhythms, its sense of beginning and ending and beginning again, provide a wit that enchants readers. Children ages 4 to 8 read this story and offered their own version of the monkeys' "Tsz, tsz, tsz."