Sandra Boynton
Sandra Boynton | |
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Born | Orange, New Jersey, U.S. | April 3, 1953
Education | |
Occupations |
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Website | Official website |
Sandra Keith Boynton (born April 3, 1953) is an American humorist, songwriter, director, music producer,
Early life and education
The third of the four daughters of Jeanne (née Ragsdale) and Robert W. Boynton, Sandra was born in Orange, New Jersey, and grew up in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia.[2] Her father was a noted progressive educator, scholar (collaborating on textbooks with Shakespearean scholar Maynard Mack), and publisher and co-founder of Boynton/Cook Publishers. Boynton/Cook Publishers is now owned by Heinemann.
Boynton's parents became
Boynton studied Latin for five years in high school, mostly in order to avoid science classes, the scheduling of which invariably conflicted with Latin.
She went to
At her graduation from Yale in 1974, she received a Special Master's Magna solemnly bestowed by Charles Davis, the Master of Boynton's residential college,
Boynton intended to become a theater director. She attended the
During her undergraduate and graduate years, her teachers included
Career
Greeting cards
Boynton's greeting card designs for Recycled Paper Greetings were at the forefront of the Alternative Cards commercial movement that began in the mid-1970s. According to RPG co-founder and president Mike Keiser, nearly 500 million copies of Boynton's distinctive humorous cards—featuring an assortment of unnamed cartoon animal characters, spare layout, and droll messages—sold between 1973 and 2003. The best known of these is a 1975 birthday card bearing images of four animals and the message "Hippo Birdie Two Ewes", a pun playing on the phrase "Happy Birthday to You". The card has sold over ten million copies to date.[3]
Books
Since the 1977 release of Hippos Go Berserk!, Boynton has published many children's books, as well as several illustrated humor books for the general market. Her books are most typically for very young children, offered in the laminated paperboard format known as
Theater
In May 1995, Boynton wrote and directed a benefit reading, On Stage—featuring
Music
In 1996, Boynton began writing and producing songs—which she has described as "renegade children's music" — with composer Michael Ford; these songs have been released as albums (
She has written the text for four choral pieces composed by Fenno Heath, Director Emeritus of the Yale Glee Club, all of which have been performed by the Yale Alumni Chorus on international tour.
Boynton is currently working on a
Music videos
In 2008, Boynton ventured into filmmaking, creating and directing music videos of her most popular recorded songs. Her first music video released in November 2009 as a book/DVD combination, was "One Shoe Blues", starring B.B. King and a cast of assorted
Awards
Boynton received the
She has received the following film festival awards for her film shorts: the Rhode Island International Film Festival Providence Prize 2010 for One Shoe Blues starring B. B. King; the Flickers North Country Film Festival 2010 Crystal Image Award for emerging artist, as director of all four films; the 2D or Not 2D Animation Festival 2011 Golden Pencil Award for Philadelphia Chickens; the Forster Film Festival 2012 Winner of Song Category for "Be Like a Duck"; and the Wilmette International Children's Film Festival 2012 Best of Fest Live Action Short Film Winner for One Shoe Blues.
Personal life
Boynton was married to writer and Olympic Bronze medalist (and fellow
Boynton has appeared on numerous national television, newspaper and radio programs. Media include
Boynton works in a reconstructed 120-year-old barn on her property in rural Connecticut.[15]
Albums
- Rhinoceros Tap (1996)
- Grunt: Pigorian Chant (1996)
- Philadelphia Chickens (2002)
- Dog Train: A Wild Ride on the Rock-and-Roll Side (2005)
- Blue Moo: 17 Jukebox Hits from Way Back Never (2007)
- Boléro Completely Unraveled (2010)
- Sandra Boynton's Frog Trouble (2013)
- Hog Wild!: A Frenzy of Dance Music (2017)
Books
Children's books
- Hippos Go Berserk! (1977)
- Hester in the Wild (1979)
- If At First (1980)
- A to Z (1982)
- Blue Hat, Green Hat (1982)
- Doggies (1982)
- Horns to Toes (1982)
- The Going to Bed Book (1982)
- Moo, Baa, La La La! (1982)
- Opposites (1982)
- But Not the Hippopotamus (1982)
- A is for Angry (1983)
- Good Night, Good Night (1985)
- Chloe and Maude (1985)
- The Story of Grump & Pout (written by Jamie McEwan) (1988)
- Birthday Monsters! (1993)
- Barnyard Dance! (1993)
- One, Two, Three! (1993)
- Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs! (1993)
- Snoozers (1997)
- Dinosaur's Binkit (1998)
- Bob and 6 More Christmas Stories (1999)
- Dinos To Go (2000)
- Hey!, Wake Up! (2000)
- Pajama Time! (2000)
- The Heart of Cool (written by Jamie McEwan) (2001)
- Snuggle Puppy! (2003)
- Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy (2003)
- Moo Cow Book (cloth) (2004)
- Belly Button Book! (2005)
- Your Personal Penguin (book with song download) (2006)
- What's Wrong, Little Pookie? (2007)
- Bath Time! (2007)
- Fifteen Animals! (2008)
- Barnyard Bath! (2008)
- Let's Dance, Little Pookie (2008)
- Night-Night, Little Pookie (2009)
- One Shoe Blues (book and DVD) (2009)
- Happy Birthday, Little Pookie (2010)
- Perfect Piggies (2010)
- Are You a Cow? (customizable board book) (2010)
- Amazing Cows (2010)
- Happy Hippo, Angry Duck: a book of moods (2011)
- Little Pookie (2012)
- Christmas Parade (2012)
- Tickle Time! (2012)
- Are You a Cow? (2012)
- The Bunny Rabbit Show (2014)
- Spooky Pookie (2015)
- Eek! Halloween! (2016)
- Dinosaur Dance! (2016)
- But Not the Armadillo (2018)
- Merry Christmas, Little Pookie (2018)
- I Love You, Little Pookie (2018)
- Dinosnores (2019)
- Silly Lullaby (2019)
- Your Nose! (2020)
- How Big is Zagnodd? (2020)
- Christmas Parade (2020)
- Jungle Night (Soundtrack with Yo Yo Ma on cello) (2021)
- Boo!, Baa, La La La! (2021)
- Woodland Dance! (2021)
- Moo, Baa, Fa La La La La! (2022)
- Pookie's Thanksgiving (2022)
- Peekaboo Rex! (2023)
General market books
- Gopher Baroque (1979)
- The Compleat Turkey (1980)
- Chocolate: The Consuming Passion (1982)
- Don't Let The Turkeys Get You Down (1986)
- Christmastime (1987)
- Yay, You! (2001)
- Consider Love (2002)
References
- ^ "Boynton, Sandra". WorldCat Identities. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
- ^ a b c d Phyllis, K (February 17, 2008). "The Power of Whimsy". The New York Times. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
- ^ CBS Sunday Morning, May 11, 2010.
- ^ Roback, Diane; Britton, Jason, eds. (December 17, 2001). "All-Time Bestselling Children's Books". Publishers Weekly. Vol. 248, no. 51. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
- ^ "Illustrator Sandra Boynton: The Queen of Cards - CBS News". CBS News.
- ^ "Mathical Book Prizes 2021" (PDF).
- ^ Bass, Carolyn (June 19, 2014). "In Memoriam: paddler and poet". Yale Alumni Magazine. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
- ^ McCarthy, Ellen (September 12, 2017). "Hippos, birdies, T. rexes, pigs: How Sandra Boynton built an empire and won your child's heart". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
- ^ "Sandra Boynton: 'The best children's work is for everyone'". MSNBC.
- ^ "At home: Order a soda, sit a spell with author/artist Sandra Boynton". USA Today.
- ^ "Sandra Boynton Greeting Cards". American Profile. October 7, 2010.
- ^ "Kids' Favorite Sandra Boynton Makes Music Video". NPR.
- ^ "Sandra Boynton goes country with "Frog Trouble"" – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ Boynton, Sandra (July 8, 2015). "A Week in the Life of Sandra Boynton". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Lewine, Edward (2013). "Talking to the Animals, and Drawing Them, Too". The New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
External links
- Official website
- NCS Awards
- Fan page with gallery of her work
- "Kids' Favorite Sandra Boynton Makes Music Video", All Things Considered, December 21, 2009 – a short interview
- Sandra Boynton at Library of Congress, with 71 library catalog records