Customer Reviews

Caps for Sale Board Book: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business (Reading Rainbow Books)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The back of this book promises "the classic tale of a peddler, some monkeys and their monkey business."

And I love the classic tale, and so do my kids, for its sweet innocent text, its rhythmic repetitions and the unique character and palette of its illustrations. All of which are preserved here except... as I discovered when I sat down to read this to a group of kids at circle time... the delightful text. Oh, and some of the pictures.

I would definitely not call it the SAME BOOK since the text is different, and I think it's mighty sneaky of the publisher (HarperFestival) to hint that you're getting "the classic tale" when what you're getting is some editorial department's cut-n-slash decisions about what makes the book tick.

What I like about this book is the repetition of the order of the hats, which kids enjoy as well, but one full repeat is missing, and another has been pared down slightly. Some of the text has been skipped - the entire second page - and elsewhere, it's paraphrased for brevity.

Perhaps if you've never read the original, you'll enjoy this book. For me, used to the rhythms and humour of the original, this board book version is woefully lacking.

Luckily, our version is from the library, so all I have to do is give it back - no returns processing necessary. I hope others will learn from my mistake before it ends up costing them the $9/$12 (in Canada), plus shipping, that they'd have to pay to get this book home. And the disappointment of knowing it's not the "classic tale" at all.

I loved this book as a child, now my baby does, too.

This new boardbook edition (2008) is slightly different from the original edition in that a drawing or two are different and the text has been changed slightly. I am making my comparison to a "full-sized" hardcover edition published many years ago that I checked out from my local public library.

I purchased this board book for my 2-year-old daughter who had fallen in LOVE with my mother's 1966 paperback edition, in an interest to preserve its delicate pages.

You can imagine my disappointment as I read it to her, discovering that important phrases, entire pages, and key details were left out of this edition, especially the rhythmic phrasing, and some of the low points of the book, completely flattening what had been a dynamic and suspenseful story. Even she noticed the difference and asked for the old book back.

I would love to be able to get a new copy of the original story, however this is not it.

My three year old son LOVES caps for sale! I bought the boardbook version for him because I knew it was a classic story and I remember liking it as a child. I have to admit I do think the words are a little dated or not detailed enough so sometimes I switch it up a bit adding and taking away here and there. It's a story that kids just seem to love, I recommend reading to your little one.

We bought this book for our twin daughters when they were ~6 months old or so. I'd read and loved the original version years ago, and for the purposes of this review I will not compare the two. We own the boardbook, and that is what I will refer to here.

We have found that this book succeeds in several significant ways:

1. It is repetitive. I think this is what makes Blues Clues and Dora so successful; the constant repetition drives home the story and allowed our daughters to both become comfortable with the syncopation and anticipate what was next based on verbal cues (at ~10 months or so).

2. The pictures are wonderful. I suppose one could call them a bit 'dated' based on the color scheme, but they have charm, are clear, and directly indicate what is happening on each page.

3. The story has easy, and meaningful, movement tie-ins. This point hit home for us when one daughter would pull the book out, open to the middle (the full picture with all the monkeys wearing hats), shake her fingers and says "tss, tss, tss". Inevitably, her sister hears and joins in! Even when much younger than now (they are a year old), they would smile and laugh when we came to the parts with "you monkeys you, you give me back my caps!". Now, they are excited to do the motions themselves.

This book is a simple story that has the powerful ability to draw an infant in. This book is one of the books that motions we've taught them come up when they are playing and just happen to notice the book (others being Hello Bugs and Barnyard Dance). In the business book parlance, this book is 'sticky'!

I am always reading stories for my 3 1/2 year old son (my parents never read to me, so I don't want him to have the same misfortunes). Especially bedtime, when it's time to have 5 books. Usually, my son will stay with a few of the same ones for a week, then change it up. I've had this book for over a month and it gets read every night. Sometimes I have to read it twice. I really like the artwork, and the fact that there's not too many words per page (for those little ones that get bored quickly), and the story is entertaining. I never heard of the book before I bought it, I was just browsing, but it is a great find and obviously a classic. You can't go wrong if you child is even mildly amused by having stories read to him/her. Enjoy it!

We love to read this book and shake our fingers and stomp our feet like the peddler and the monkeys.

The book is a boardbook, but developmentally the storyline is more for a 2-3 year old. Doesn't matter, she will love the story as she gets older!

One of the greatest children's books of all times...I'd only recommend the board book version for very small children as some of the illustrations seem to loose some of their wow factor because they are smaller than in the standard size book.

No matter how many years go by, we never get tired of this delightful book. The story is adorable and kids can relate in many ways. I am giving it to our "next generation" of kids in our family. Great response!