 Like other Russian modernists, surrounded by ancient icons and a rich craft tradition, Slobodkina developed a lifelong appreciation of clear, rich colors, and flat, stylized forms.According to her biography on the HarperCollins website,
In the late 1930s, Slobodkina began to write and illustrate her own children's books.Among her 24 published works "Caps for Sale" (1940) is considered a children's book classic; it has sold more than two million copies and has been translated into more than a dozen languages.