In the 1980s, it was hard to enter a gift shop without seeing Sandra Boynton's name. Her humorous pen-and-watercolor cartoons of hippos, ewes, and her famous turkeys (you know, symbolizing the human ones in life who can get you down) were emblazoned on cards, mugs, stickers, stationery...and of course, her wonderful, wacky books, the first of which was 1979's Hippos Go Berserk! .

Boynton began her career as a greeting card illustrator with aspirations of theater directing; but having a family changed her focus, and she began devoting herself full-time to art. Her board books, filled with goofy animal illustrations and rhyming verse, are toddler staples. But their appeal to adults is undeniable, and she has also written a number of humor books for the general public.

Given the rhythmic, buoyant style of her writing, it was only natural that Boynton would become involved in companion music to her books. From the '90s on, several of her titles included accompanying CDs, culminating in the 2002 release of Philadelphia Chickens, a CD-book extravaganza written with composer Michael Ford and featuring musical performances by several high-profile stars.

Who knows what lies ahead for this irrepressible force of nature? If there's one thing Sandra Boynton has proved in the course of her remarkably diverse career, it's that she's not lost her capacity to surprise us. (Thank heavens!)