Happy Hippo, Angry Duck by Sandra Boynton (Board Book)

About the Book

Bestselling author Boynton is back in this all-new board book about moods. Boynton's clever animals exemplify a wide range of emotions in this hilarious story about different feelings. Full color.

Book Synopsis

Are you HAPPY AS A HIPPO?
Or ANGRY AS A DUCK?
Maybe SAD AS A CHICKEN?
(Can you sadly say CLUCK CLUCK?)

Bestselling author Sandra Boynton is back in this all-new board book about moods. Boynton's clever animals exemplify a wide range of emotions in this hilarious story about different feelings. Young readers are sure to giggle as interactive text asks them if they are grumpy as a moose or excited as a dog? Maybe they're worried as a rabbit or contented as a frog?

This new Boynton board book covers the first concept of moods with her charming, trademark sense of humor.

Review Quotes

Happy Hippo, Angry Duck: A Book of Moods
Sandra Boynton. Little Simon, $5.99 (16p) ISBN 978-1-4424-1731-1 With her familiar brand of gentle absurdity, Boynton creates similes that ascribe moods to various animals. Hello, Little Person!/ How are you today? greets a concerned-looking bear. Part of the book's pleasure is that Boynton doesn't rely on clichéd animal personifications: Are you happy as a hippo?/ Or angry as a duck?/ Maybe sad as a chicken?/ ('Can you sadly say, Cluck Cluck? ')After the characters tell readers, Well, I hope you are happy./ But if you are not, / you have friends who will help you./ We like you a lot, even kids in the stoniest of moods will feel the effect of this pick-me-up. All ages.

--Publishers Weekly, June 20, 2011, *STAR

"Emotional labeling--now that's an angry duck!--adds to the exuberant charm in this wacky animal roundup.Outgoing Bear ("Hello, Little Person!") introduces the players and their corresponding moods. Boynton's signature style gives zany animation to her trademark cartoon characters (dog, rabbit and moose, for starters). Facial expression undergoes minor adjustments to convey depth, through slight spacing between the eyes or the angled slant of the nose. Springy rhythmic phrases engage the audience. "Perhaps, like a pig, you are SWEETLY AMUSED, / Or perhaps, like a cow, you're COMPLETELY CONFUSED." Pacing naturally rolls along through its conversational voice and irreverent asides. "You might feel that, somehow, you've lost all your fizz. / Or you're FRAZZLED LIKE A... um...FRAZZLED THING. (I'm not sure what it is.") Some lighthearted fun with a nugget of truth, but it's all at the stodgy bird's expense. 'And a difficult mood is not here to stay / Everyone's moods will change day to day / Unless you're that duck. / He's always this way.' Guaranteed to knock the bad mood out of anyone, duck included."

- Kirkus Reviews July 1, 2011 *STAR

About The Author

Sandra Boynton is a popular American cartoonist, children's author, songwriter, producer, and director. Since 1974, Boynton has written and illustrated over sixty children's books and seven general audience books, including five New York Times bestsellers. More than 70 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" (animated) sung by Samuel L. Jackson. She lives in rural New England, and her studio is in a barn with perhaps the only hippopotamus weathervane in America.