Comments on: Top 100 Picture Books #72: But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton

By: Sondy

Sondy — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:01:42 +0000

Cavort! Cavort!

I was very into Boynton greeting cards back when I was in college. They had them at our college bookstore. Then when our son was born a few years later, (Oh yeah, I was teaching at the same university at the time, so probably still buying Boynton greeting cards.) it was of course natural to buy her books. My absolute favorite is Blue Hat, Green Hat. That Oops! So much fun!

Though I told my sister my 8-month-old could read when he started saying “Ffff!” when we read Boynton’s book DOGS to him. (My sister gave that one to us.)

By: Aaron Zenz

Aaron Zenz — Tue, 22 May 2012 02:09:54 +0000

Good news! That calls for some cavorting right now!

By: Elizabeth Bird

Elizabeth Bird — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:19:44 +0000

I think they must have because my board book also says “cavort”. Clearly someone saw the light and righted a great wrong.

By: rockinlibrarian

rockinlibrarian — Mon, 21 May 2012 23:47:32 +0000

AGH! Aaron! That IS terrible! But our copy says “cavort” and we only got it– new, at that– last year, so maybe they changed it back?

By: Elizabeth Bird

Elizabeth Bird — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:06:39 +0000

Durn. And here I was this close to passing myself off as a Yale-y. Thus exposed, I shall correct because, yes indeed, that was a bit of an old typo.

By: JMyersbook

JMyersbook — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:49:43 +0000

Hmmm… Methinks you have included a rather misleading typo! In the above entry, you wrote: “It was Hippos Go Bezerk and it was her January Project while I was still a student the Yale School of Drama.” I believe that the “I was” snuck in from something the Boynton wrote about herself. The way it currently stands, it reads as though YOU were a student at the Yale School of Drama. You are many (MANY!) fabulous things, and I’m sure you would have been a stellar addition to the student body, but I don’t think it’s actually part of your CV. Or did you sneak off and do this when I wasn’t looking?

By: Aaron Zenz

Aaron Zenz — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:14:51 +0000

I would like to go on record as a huge fan of the book’s original line “A hog and a frog cavort in a bog.” Cavort! Cavort!! Awesome word — in a board book no less. Later versions have changed “cavort” to “do a dance.” Bah. The world needs more ‘cavort,’ say I!