'Caps for Sale' Creator Dies at 93

Esphyr Slobodkina, the Siberian-born author and illustrator of Caps for Sale (HarperCollins), the children's classic about a peddler and some wily monkeys, died at her home in Glen Head, NY, on July 21. She was 93.

Slobodkina began her career in the early 1930s as an abstract artist in New York's Greenwich Village. During that time, she illustrated several picture books for children's book author Margaret Wise Brown, including Sleepy ABC and The Little Fireman. Brown encouraged Slobodkina to tell her own stories, and that led to the publication of Caps for Sale in 1938. After Brown's death, Slobodkina continued writing and illustrating her own books. By far her most popular book, Caps for Sale has sold more than two million copies worldwide.