Sandra Boynton became my favorite children’s author when my children were very little. Nothing made me happier than reading one of her Pookie books to my children.
One of our favorites of her non-Pookie board books was But Not the Hippopotamus.
I think the story and illustrations are charming, and Clara seemed to enjoy 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 was 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 dedications for two of my upcoming books, 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?
