Sandra Boynton is a popular American cartoonist, children's author, songwriter, producer, animator, and director. Since 1974, Boynton has written and illustrated over seventy-five children's books and seven general audience books, including five New York Times Bestsellers. More than 85 million of her books have been sold, "mostly to friends and family," she says. She has also written—with Michael Ford—and produced six albums of renegade children's music. Three of her six albums have been certified Gold [over 500,000 copies sold] and "Philadelphia Chickens," nominated for a Grammy, has been certified Platinum [over 1 million copies sold.] Boynton has also directed twelve music videos of her songs, including the award-winning "One Shoe Blues" starring B. B. King, "Alligator Stroll" starring Josh Turner, and "Tyrannosaurus Funk" (animation) sung by Samuel L. Jackson. Early in the pandemic, she collaborated remotely with Yo-Yo Ma on three animated shorts: "Mooing Home" for Mr. Ma's Songs of Comfort project; "Chanson Profonde", a good-natured sendup of French chanson; and, as a companion to her book of the same title, "Jungle Night", Boynton's cello/guitar/percussion arrangement of Erik Satie's "Gymnopédie No. 1". She lives in rural New England, and her studio is in a barn with perhaps the only hippopotamus weathervane in America.
