Why Does An 80's Children's Book About Tow Trucks Cost $400?

This morning I was inspired to look up one of my favorite childhood books, How Many Trucks Can A Tow Truck Tow by Charlotte Pomerantz, only to discover it's apparently become the crown jewel of droll-and-Cherrio stained libraries everywhere.

As of this morning the whole of Amazon.com only had one new copy, for $407.40. Used prices start at $280.61, with descriptions like;

"A good reading copy. May contain markings or be a withdrawn library copy. Expect delivery in 2-4 weeks."

I don't what's a more egregious offense to my instant-gratification-for-free addiction; the idea of droping $200 on a kid's book or waiting around for a month to get the damn thing.

I understand how "supply and demand" works, but why is there a market for a kid's book that costs this much? Especially when there's another "pictureback" version for like twenty bucks.

To he honest I don't know why the clustercrap of New York traffic reminded me of this story. Something about "the futility of existence" probably, and me wishing I was a kid eating reading picture books instead of counting the leather perforations in the Nissan "Rouge" steering wheel.

If you haven't read it, I sure hope you can work out the story from the title. Unless you're still a kid, in which case your parents probably shouldn't let you read this website.

But since I can't resist summarizing it; one tow truck after another keeps breaking down until finally another one comes along that can tow the lot of 'em and everybody wins. Truck YAY! At least that's how I remember it, I don't really know. My favorite part were the illustrations of the lights, they looked really appetizing to my childhood self.

Who's read this classic that reckons it's worth four hundred bucks? If you missed it during your teething days, well, it's this only hardcover of this or (most of) a new Xbox bro. What's it gonna be?