Sandra Boynton and Her Wonderful Board Books
Sandra Boynton
My Favorite Board Books
Sandra Boynton makes some of the cutest board books for kids. We bought a few of her books when my oldest son was born. My wife and I loved her books so much that we have bought numerous others ever since. My 3 boys have loved her books. The pictures are cute and easily grabbed my boys attention. The books seem so simple in their design. But, it is obvious that she chooses her words very wisely to tell a great little story with each one. Her books have such perfect rhyming that my boys always got a kick out of them. I will be honest even though I have 3 boys and have read countless books to them. I am still horrible at trying to use different voices when I read to my kids. Yet with Sandra's books it actually seems to come naturally. She often uses different types of text to represent the different animals speaking. It really adds a lot to the little books. The books are very durable and some have lasted through all three of our boys.
Sandra Boynton Board Books
About Sandra Boynton
Sandra Boynton was born on April 3rd, 1953 in Orange New Jersey. Her dad was an English teacher. She went to Yale and studied, "you guessed it English." In 1973 she decided to work designing Christmas and gift cards. She would print and take her cards to various stores to be sold. A few years later she signed with Recycled Paper Greetings to design cards for them. Sandra got married and moved to a farm in the Berkshires. She had four kids. Her husband competed in the Olympics in the Whitewater Canoe Slalom and got the bronze medal.
From Sandra's estimation she has designed about 5,000 different greeting cards. Her most popular card has sold over 10 million copies. The card pictures a few animals with the words Hippo, Birdie, Two Ewes. It basically plays on the words"Happy Birthday two you." Sandra wrote her first children's book in 1977 as a project for school. Her first book was Hippos Go Berserk. She has written and illustrated over forty books. Typically her children's books are aimed at very young children. They are just perfect for toddlers. The books are very colorful with lots of cute animals. They are written on strong little board books that stand up to wear and tear.
Hippo Birdie to Ewe
Sandra Boynton's Music
Sandra was a part of the glee club at Yale. In 1996 she decided to work on that talent again and started creating childrens songs with composer Michael Ford. Sandra was able to get a lot of famous actors and musicians like Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, the Bacon Brothers, B.B. King and numerous others to contribute to her albums. I'm guessing they must have loved her books as much as I do. Her most recent venture has been to create music videos for some of her best songs. The first is set for release in November 2009 and will be called One Shoe Blues.
Sandra has received numerous awards for her work. Sandra was awarded the National Parenting Publications Gold Medal for her books Your Personal Penguin and for Barnyard Dance. She received the National Cartoonists Society Greeting Card Awardin 1992. Her highest achievement was getting the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. It is the highest award for the National Cartoonist Society. Sandra was even nominated for a Grammy for Philadelphia Chickens. It seems like a pretty incredible achievement for a children's book writer that also does greeting cards. She truly is a very creative and talented individual.