Sandra Boynton has become my favorite children’s author. Nothing makes me happier than reading one of her Pookie books to my daughter.
One of our new favorites is her non-Pookie board book, But Not the Hippopotamus.
I think the story and illustrations are charming, and Clara seems to be enjoying the taste of the book a great deal, which led me to this thought:
Artificially-flavored board books. Awesome… right?
I’ll have to see what my agent thinks.
My favorite part about But Not the Hippopotamus is the dedication, which reads:
For Ash and Kyle but not Paisley
I’m not sure who Paisley is, but the dedication is clearly a play on the title and probably not meant to offend. But as I ponder the dedication for my second book, I find myself thrilled with the possibility of not dedicating the book to someone as a means of retribution, cruelty, or mean-spiritedness. Rather than honoring someone with a dedication, now I have the potential to dishonor someone instead, or perhaps as well.
It opens up a whole new spectrum of options and puts a brand new spin on choosing the perfect dedication. Don’t you think?
