Sandra Boynton's whimsical animals have been delighting kids for 40 years
washingtonpost.com
washingtonpost.com
People without kids, are you looking to give a book to folks with a new arrival? A Boynton board book is always a good choice.
It was fun to read this article and get to know the author a little better.
Thank you Sandra!
Doggies is a fun read for onlookers, since it's basically dad or mom making dog noises for 15 minutes straight.
For younger kids, Blue Hat, Green Hat, and it's quite adorable when little kids complete the "Three singing pigs say..." "La la la!" (Moo, Baa, Lalala).
My younger kids had several Boynton books memorized, and I agree with the grandparent - I enjoyed the interaction with the children while reading them.
>Then she was introduced to the founders of a Chicago upstart called Recycled Paper Greetings. Mike Keiser and Phil Friedmann liked her animals and offered to pay her $50 a design. “I want a royalty,” she remembers saying. “They said, ‘It’s just never done.’ ” But in the end, they agreed.
>Keiser recalls that when Boynton signed on, the company was doing about $1 million a year in sales. Within five years their annual revenue topped $100 million, almost all because of Sandra Boynton.
To be a young upstart making cards by hands and say that to card company takes a lot of strength and foresight.
My little sister has been telling me "Hippo birdee!" on every birthday since we were in elementary school and even in our forties, she still posts it to my Facebook wall reliably every year.
These cartoon friends are a treasured piece of my childhood and now part of my kids', too. It's fitting that Ms. Boynton stayed true to her creations and that we don't see Boynton moose and chickens on McDonalds cups and other low-grade junk.
Awards are circle jerks that add no new value on their own.
Then we've recognized her a lot in my house :-)
> Awards are circle jerks that add no new value on their own.
There's nothing wrong with valuing respect from your peers.
I definitely recommend any of these books to parents of toddlers.
I always found her animal cartoons to be wonderfully balanced. Not too cutesy and cloying and quite lovable.
She has definitely done young children's book marketing well!
That CD is just full of gems...
edit: clarify I don't have ALL Boynton books.
You would think this type of work would travel well.
Of late, she seems to have disappeared off the shelves in newsagents etc. I was actually quite surprised to hear a couple of years back that she was still creating new work. Followed her on Twitter for a dose of nostalgia every now and then on my timeline.
The words per page aren't enough that she gets bored, the illustrations are colorful and silly, and each book lasts "just long enough". We've got a small collection going now that she loves to have read to her. When I see one of the books in a store, I know it's an easy buy.