But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton

Boynton's grade point average did not in fact entitle her to any degree honor but shortly before the ceremony, she had told Professor Davis in mock earnest that 'my parents are here, so I'd really appreciate it if you could just mumble some Latin after my name'.īoynton intended to become a theater director. Unbeknownst to the graduation audience, the honor was actually a fiction. Boynton has described herself as 'an enthusiastic but undistinguished alto'.Īt 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, Calhoun College. She had joined the Glee Club when additional singers were needed for a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at Carnegie Hall, under the direction of Leopold Stokowski. At Yale, she majored in English and also sang sporadically with the Yale Glee Club. She spent the second semester of her junior year studying in Paris through Wesleyan University's program. She went to Yale University, entering in 1970 in the college's second year of coeducation.

She also spent part of her 10th grade year at Ackworth School near Pontefract, England.īoynton studied Latin for five years in high school, mostly in order to avoid science classes, the scheduling of which invariably conflicted with Latin. Boynton has frequently cited Germantown Friends' arts-centered curriculum as central to her own 'upbeat offbeat' sensibility as well as its thorough integration of the values of pacifism, independent inquiry, and individualism. From kindergarten through 12th grade, she and her sisters attended Germantown Friends School, where their father taught English and was Head of the Upper School. Boynton/Cook Publishers is now owned by Heinemann.īoynton's parents became Quakers when she was two years old. 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, Sandra was born in Orange, New Jersey, and grew up in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia. The third of the four daughters of Jeanne ( née Ragsdale) and Robert W. She has also designed calendars, wallpaper, bedding, stationery, paper goods, clothing, jewelry, and plush toys for various companies.

Boynton has written and illustrated over seventy-five books for children and seven general audience books, as well as over four thousand greeting cards, and five music albums. Sandra Keith Boynton (born April 3, 1953) is an American humorist, songwriter, director, music producer, children's author, and illustrator.

But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton