Advertise here with Carbon Ads

This site is made possible by member support. 💞

Big thanks to Arcustech for hosting the site and offering amazing tech support.

When you buy through links on kottke.org, I may earn an affiliate commission. Thanks for supporting the site!

kottke.org. home of fine hypertext products since 1998.

Beloved by 86.47% of the web.

🍔  💀  📸  😭  🕳️  🤠  🎬  🥔

B.J. Novak considers Caps for Sale & other kid’s books. “The best children’s books […] aren’t advertisements for anything — not even the important things. They’re an advertisement for reading itself; for the entertainment value of the world itself.”

Comments  4

Sort by: thread — thread . latest . faves

A
Amelia

Fully agree with this take. Caps for Sale is one of my two year old’s favorite books. I don’t blame her- it has one of the most bizarre twists in any children’s book I’ve read. And also a bit of a plot. Glad to learn there are sequels!

L
Lisa S.

I have always loved "Caps for Sale"! I loved it when I was a kid, and I loved reading it to my kid. It truly is that rhythm or the song of it that he talks about.

J
Jason KottkeMOD

I used to read this to my kids. The last time was probably 6-7 years ago, and I can still remember the cadence and intonation I used. As the man got madder, I'd raise my voice and go higher in pitch, until my voice started cracking and I sounded like Seinfeld getting mock-angry. And my daughter would laugh every time.

S
Steven M

All the way agree. Anytime someone does something naughty we all go "Tss Tss Tss." Our favorite lately has been Mickey in The Night Kitchen. So strange, so bizarre, but "Milk in the batter!" often rings down the hall for no reason whatsoever.

This thread is closed for new comments & replies. Thanks to everyone for participating!