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Happy Hippo, Angry Duck

 Sandra Boynton attended the Yale School of Drama, but she found that the work was not easy to balance with the project of starting a family. So she dropped out; eventually, she began writing silly board books.


(She did return to Yale, to give a talk to students: "The Curious Misuse of a Yale Education.")

Boynton has conquered America; she is the subject of a scholarly piece by Pulitzer finalist Ann Patchett, and she has earned a shout-out in "Law and Order: SVU." (Noah Benson's favorite book is "Barnyard Dance.") Readers tip their hats: "My son never would have loved books without Sandra Boynton," "I'm so excited to learn there is a sequel to ...But Not the Hippopotamus!")

Boynton's work is joyful, and it's grounded in truth. You sense that these stories just bubble up out of the writer. A sequel might not have been a given, for "Moo, Baa, La La La." But when you imagine the cow on Halloween, how can you not draft "Boo, Baa, La La La"--? And how about inserting the cow into a Christmas party: "Moo, Baa, Fa La La La La"--? Another source of joy is in the unexpected rhyme: "On Halloween, the cow says BOO! She likes that word. It's something new." The truthfulness comes from Boynton's experience as a parent, I think: In one book, Mother Pig can't find a suitable Halloween costume for her Little Pookie. In another book, Mother Pig tries to guess why Pookie is upset; the final answer is, "Umm....I forget." If you're a parent, then you've lived through these discussions in your own kitchen.

A final trait I admire, in Boynton: She won't invent words to make her work convenient. She correctly assails Dr. Seuss for just cooking up random shit: Seuss is full of "yummers," "zizzards," "neckles," "flunnels." Boynton knows this is lazy; when she can't find a rhyme, she does something astonishing: "Maybe you feel you've lost all your fizz. Maybe you're frazzled like a.....frazzled thing. (I don't know what it is.)"

So many children's books are joyless and didactic and badly written. And then there is Boynton--who is, as Patchett notes, "perfection." I find her inspiring.






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