Caps for Sale

Oh, how we love Caps for Sale!  What a wonderful, funny, classic children's book!

This classic tale by Esphyr Slobodkina was first published in 1940.  The story is of a somewhat unusual peddler who has a very unusual encounter with a lot of monkeys.  

One of the things we love about this book is the repetition.  The peddler carries his caps on his head -- first his own black and white checkered cap, then the gray caps, the brown caps, the blue caps, and the red caps on the very top.  This sequence is repeated several times within the story, as is the peddler's chant -- "Caps!  Caps for sale!  Fifty cents a cap!"  

The best part of the story happens when the peddler takes an afternoon nap under a tree and his caps are stolen by a large group of monkeys.  The poor peddler has lost his caps and becomes quite frustrated, while the silly monkeys just tease the angry peddler by imitating him and saying "tsz, tsz, tsz!"

In the end, the peddler gets his caps back, thank goodness, and continues on his journey selling caps.  It's an absolutely wonderful story that is funny, fun to read, and it's fun for the kids to participate and imitate the angry peddler just as the silly moneys do.

I had never read Caps for Sale as a child, this is one of the many wonderful children's books that I missed... we discovered it at my mother-in-law's house with my children. (I adore her for keeping a small bookshelf full of great children's books.)  Thank you Grandma for introducing our family to this book -- we got our own copy for Christmas and I'm thrilled to have this in our collection.

Caps for Sale (paperback)

Lunchtime Reading - Mouse Tales

Here is a little gem of a chapter book we found at our last library trip - Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel. The book has seven short stories about the adventures of little mice, and they read like old-fashioned folk tales. The stories are simple, with cute and colorful drawings on every page (and often interspersed among the text). The beginning of the book sets up the stories -- seven young mice are nestled in bed and their Papa will tell one story for each little mouse.

We are experimenting with lunchtime reading. On days when I am well-organized, the boys will sit at lunch and I will read to them. It works well, although if I hold the book so both boys can see the pictures, I end up reading upside down and/or sideways. Lunch reading is nice bonding and the boys seem to enjoy it too. It's a good opportunity for us to get more reading in besides bedtime.

Lots of giggles reading Dick and Jane Jump and Run

I was surprised last night when my oldest and I read a borrowed library copy of Dick and Jane Jump and Run before bed.  It really gave my son the giggles!  He immediately asked to read it again, saying it's a funny book. 

Who knew that Dick and Jane would be a hit?  Not me.  As a modern mom who grew up in the 70's and 80's, I had the impression of Dick and Jane being terribly old fashioned, patriarchal, non-diverse and somehow very wrong for today, just too simple and old.  (What is weird is that I'm fine with traditional roles and lifestyles but still I felt this strange gut resistance.) Maybe it's the little perfect blonde kids or something else about it that made me want to reject Dick and Jane.  However, my mother in law collects old 1950's schoolbooks and has some Dick and Jane in her collection.  I thought it wouldn't hurt to check one out at the library, and I considered that the word repetition would be a good experience for my oldest (almost four years old).

Enough of my weird bias.  My son loved it.  He seemed to enjoy the repetitive words and he also loved Puff (the kitten) and Spot (the puppy).  He also laughed at all the lines and pictures with "funny, funny", as in.... (illustration of Spot running away with a stick) Oh, oh, Spot!  Oh, oh, oh.  Funny, funny Spot.)  As a read aloud, I got to work on my vocal interpretation to make the story more interesting, which was fun for me too.

On our second read, I tried to persuade A. to read some of the words but he refused.  We will try that again when he's more awake and after more reading.  The kids' votes count -- Dick and Jane Jump and Run is a hit in our house, and anything that gives my son sweet giggle fits is welcome by me. I'm over my bias. We may need to add this one to our collection.

Read with Dick and Jane: Jump and Run (Dick and Jane)

The Lunch Box Surprise

"I love to share!"
-My four-year-old during a reading of The Lunch Box Surprise

The Lunch Box Surprise is an early reader book that is part of the First Grade Friends series. We got our copy as part of our family's exploration into "first reader" type books for my almost four-year-old. Out of several we have read, The Lunch Box Surprise is a clear favorite with a great message.

The First Grade Friends are a group of first graders (all with names that rhyme!) and the stories are about their experiences. In The Lunch Box Surprise, Sams mother forgot to pack his lunch, and he feels sad and mad. The other children choose to share their lunches with him, and Sam has a great lunch after all. The story details each child's lunch, which also gives a nice representation of the variety of foods that people eat. (Maybe my kids will get more enthusiastic at dinnertime -- my oldest does seem more curious about foods during our reads.)

The only downside I've found to The Lunch Box Surprise (and the First Grade Friends) is that the rhyming names are difficult for me to read-aloud -- I think I do better with Fox in Socks than with these kids' names -- Sam, Pam, Jan, Dan, Kim, Max.... (I think!) It sounds simple, but it's more challenging than you would think!

Overall, we are very pleased with The Lunch Box Surprise and recommend it as a good book for reading-aloud to preschoolers and as a first reader.