Sandra Boynton facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sandra Boynton
Boynton around 2005
Born	(1953-04-03) April 3, 1953 (age 72) Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
Education	Yale University (BA) University of California, Berkeley
Occupation	Illustrator Cartoonist Humorist Author Songwriter

Sandra Keith Boynton (born April 3, 1953) is a super creative American artist. She writes and illustrates many books for kids, makes music, and designs fun things like greeting cards and toys. She has created over 85 books for children and seven books for grown-ups. She has also designed more than 4,000 greeting cards and released seven music albums.

Sandra Boynton's Early Life and School

Sandra Boynton was born in Orange, New Jersey. She grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the third of four daughters. Her dad, Robert W. Boynton, was a well-known teacher and publisher.

Sandra and her sisters went to Germantown Friends School from kindergarten through 12th grade. Her father taught English there. This school focused a lot on art. Sandra says this helped her develop her "upbeat offbeat" style. The school also taught important values like peace and thinking for yourself. She also spent some time studying in England.

Sandra studied Latin in high school for five years. She mostly did this to avoid science classes!

College Years and Dreams

Sandra went to Yale University in 1970. This was only the second year that girls were allowed to attend Yale. She studied English there. She also sang with the Yale Glee Club for a while. She even performed at Carnegie Hall with a famous conductor named Leopold Stokowski.

After Yale, Sandra wanted to become a theater director. She studied drama at the University of California, Berkeley and then at the Yale School of Drama. However, she decided not to finish the program. When her first child was born in 1979, she realized that a theater career would be too hard to balance with raising a family.

Sandra Boynton's Amazing Career

Fun Greeting Cards

Sandra Boynton started designing greeting cards in the mid-1970s. Her cards were very popular and helped start a new trend in humorous cards. Her cards often feature cute, unnamed cartoon animals and funny messages.

One of her most famous cards, from 1975, shows four animals and says "Hippo Birdie Two Ewes." This is a funny way to say "Happy Birthday to You." Over ten million copies of this card have been sold!

Best-Selling Books for Kids

Since 1977, Sandra Boynton has published many children's books. Her first book was Hippos Go Berserk!. Most of her books are for very young children. They are often board books, which are made of thick, laminated paperboard. This makes them very durable for little hands.

Many of her books have become best-sellers. Some of her most famous children's books include Moo, Baa, La La La!, The Going to Bed Book, and Barnyard Dance!. More than 90 million copies of her books have been sold!

Music and Albums

In 1996, Sandra Boynton started writing and producing songs. She calls her music "renegade children's music." She works with composer Michael Ford. They have released several albums, often as book and audio disc sets.

Many famous singers and actors have performed on her albums. These include Meryl Streep, Alison Krauss, Kevin Kline, Laura Linney, and even "Weird Al" Yankovic! Her album Philadelphia Chickens was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2003. Three of her albums have been certified gold, meaning they sold a lot of copies.

In 2010, Sandra Boynton produced a funny version of Maurice Ravel's famous song "Boléro." It was called Boléro Completely Unraveled. It featured 300 kazoos and an orchestra! She even played a solo kazoo on the recording.

In December 2024, she released a Christmas album called Cows and Holly. It features performances by artists like Lyle Lovett and Yo-Yo Ma.

Music Videos

In 2008, Sandra Boynton started making music videos for her popular songs. Her first video, "One Shoe Blues," came out in 2009. It starred the famous musician B.B. King and a cast of sock puppets! She also directed videos for "Penguin Lament" and "Philadelphia Chickens."

Awards and Honors

Sandra Boynton has won many awards for her creative work. Here are some of them:

• The Irma Simonton Black Award for Chloe and Maude.
• The National Parenting Publications Gold Medal for Barnyard Dance and Your Personal Penguin.
• A Grammy Award Nomination for Philadelphia Chickens.
• The National Cartoonists Society Greeting Card Award in 1992.
• The National Cartoonists Society Book Illustration Award in 2008 for Blue Moo.
• The Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. This is the highest honor from the National Cartoonists Society.
• Her book Hippos Go Berserk! was added to the Mathical Hall of Fame.

She has also won several film festival awards for her music videos.

Sandra Boynton's Personal Life

Sandra Boynton was married to Jamie McEwan from 1978 until he passed away in 2014. Jamie McEwan was a writer and an Olympic Bronze medalist in whitewater canoeing. He also wrote some children's books that Sandra illustrated.

Sandra and Jamie had four children: Caitlin, Keith, Devin McEwan, and Darcy. All four of their children sang on her music albums Philadelphia Chickens and BLUE MOO. Devin McEwan is a whitewater slalom racer who was part of the U.S. Olympic Team in 2016.

In 1991, Sandra and her family lived in France for a year. This was so Jamie could train for the 1992 Olympics.

Sandra Boynton has appeared on many TV shows and in newspapers. She works in a renovated 120-year-old barn on her property in rural Connecticut.

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)
• Cows and Holly (2024)

Books

Children's books

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)