But NOT the hippopotamus!
“Various” is right. You can’t get much more various than a duet between Weird Al Yankovic and…Kate Winslet. (“I Need a Nap.”)
My favorite was a greeting card from her, with pictures of a series of animals:
Wee fish
Ewe
a Mare
Egrets
Moose
Panda
Hippo
Gnu
Deer
Along a similar line, there was also “hippo birdy two ewe”, but that one’s not nearly as impressive.
We are Sandra Boynton fans, too. the first book my youngest to read all by herself was Red Hat Blue Hat (oops!) I read it to my nephew because it was so adorable to hear a 20 month old say “ooops!” in all the right places. He’s four now and he still loves the book. My dd checks out the books with albums at the library quite often.
My kids have all outgrown the board book stage, so my Sandra Boynton books are carefully packed away with their Little People. I look forward to the day when I can sit a grandbaby on my lap and read But Not the Hippopotomus. I’ll probably be doing that when baby is just a few days old. Love those books.
There are gentle winds blowing
and stars all above you.
Night night, little Pookie.
I love you and love you.
Thank you! thank you so much for linking this. I am so very happy now having watched it.
I’ll never forget it - my toddler thought the “oops” with the socks showed the turkey wearing the socks “on her nipples!”
All the books are great for early “reading,” as they’re very easy to memorize and recite.
I make my 4yo read all the "BEE BO"s in The Belly Button book when we read it together - it’s much better in a tiny adorable kid voice!
Did Sandra Boynton do the design work for Family Guy? The show seems to be very much in her style, especially Brian.
“Chloe and Maude” was my daughter’s favorite book EVER!
All wonderful. Some of the board books are our standard new-baby presents.
A shout-out too for her Early Work “Chocolate: The Consuming Passion.”
When Boy 2.0 brought that book to me for bedtime reading tonight, I could not unsee what your toddler saw, and there was much internal giggling. 
Favorites in our house are Moo, Baa, La La La, Doggies!, The Alphabet Book, Pajama Time, and The Belly Button Book. I asked Boy 1.0 to read But Not the Hippopotamus to Boy 2.0, but got smacked down. “I don’t like that one. It’s too sad.”
We have many other books, but these are the current favs (as in, read two of them every night).
Xylo xylophoning…
But Not the Hippopotamus, Moo Baa La La La, Hippos Go Berserk (why are people spelling that “berzerk”?), Barnyard Dance and The Going to Bed Book were the big favourites in our family.
Back in the day I sang “It’s Pajama Time” each time it came up. Then we started doing the conga line…
All around the room in one big line
Wearing our pajamas and looking so fine
And each kid had a stuffed animal in front of them, so (with me and the big-pink-bunny) there were 10 of us all in one big line…
Awesome. Can’t wait until my grandson can walk and carry a stuffed animal.
We’re a Boynton household too. Favorites include Barnyard Dance, Moo Baa La La La, Doggies, and But Not the Hippopotamus.
We also have the CD with “I Need a Nap.” It describes my son perfectly (even at his current age of 5)!
I enjoyed her *Chocolate: The Consuming Passion *and Don’t Let the Turkeys Get You Down.
Only recently did I learn she does children’s books, too.
BUT YES THE HIPPOPOTAMUS!
–Cliffy
P.S. But not the armadillo.
We have half a dozen of Boynton’s books. Never heard of her before my 22 month old was born, but they’re her favorite books. I have no clue what makes them so addicting to toddlers but she loves them.
I let my daughter pick her books out for the night and few weeks ago she searched the bookshelves, turned to me and said “la la la!”
I looked and couldn’t find it anywhere, so I had her pick out a different book.
The next night “La la la!”
Still couldn’t find it.
After the third night in a row of her asking about that one book I finally went out and bought another copy.
I like to sing “Snuggle Puppy” to my sister’s dog.
I’ve ADORED this woman’s work ever since I worked in a card and gift store during grad school. Later on I found out she wrote songs as well.
I’m a children’s librarian and sometimes during craft programs or Lego Nights, I like to play the “Blue Moo” album. It’s got all kinds of famous singers from Gerry (of Pacemakers fame) to Steve Lawrence to Brian Wilson (who sings a Beach Boys-esque song called “Speed Turtle”) to Davy Jones to B.B. King singing whimsy as only Sandra can write it!
Started buying greeting cards by her back in the '70s - that frazzled cat that couldn’t type, and then “Wee fish / Ewe / A mare / Egrets / Moose.” 8) Our first daughter was born in '95, and we sometimes had to read But Not the Hippopotamus or Moo, Baa, La La La! to her a dozen times before she’d let us stop. Hippos Go Berzerk!, The Going to Bed Book and Barnyard Dance! were favourites, too.
Dinosaurs BIG and dinosaurs tiny.
Dinosaurs smooth, and dinosaurs sPiNy.
This last one always had Typo Knig taking the kids’, rubbing them against his unshaven chin, and pronouncing that “Daddy is a SPINY dinosaur” :D.
(Oh good heaven, I’ve resurrected a zombie. Somehow this came up in a search for “brian family guy” and I forgot it was a search result. Daddy is still a spiny dinosaur though).