General & Miscellaneous Humor, Psychology & Self Help - Humor, Coping & Healing

Don't Let the Turkeys Get You Down

Name: Don't Let the Turkeys Get You Down
Author: Sandra Boynton
ISBN: 9780894800139

by Sandra Boynton

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Overview

They sit behind you in movie theaters.

They're ahead of you in line at the grocery store.

They handle your insurance claims.

WHO ARE THESE GUYS, ANYWAY?

Wonder no more!

Now, with this handy full-color field guide, you will be able to identify with confidence any turkey that comes along and won't go away.

Presents descriptions of the various "turkeys" of contemporary life in all fields--repairmen, restauranteurs, professionals--as well as comments on "turkeys" in general.

About the Author, Sandra Boynton

Sandra Boynton has been a bestselling Workman author for 25 years. She's written the New York Times bestseller Chocolate: The Consuming Passion, the national (and New York Times) bestselling musical for the whole family, Philadelphia Chickens, the phenomenally successful Boynton on Board series (led by Barnyard Dance!), and the one-of-a-kind Grunt, the sublime collection of Pigoroian chant. All told, her books have over 15.3 million copies in print, a number that will already be out-of-date when you read this. She lives with her family in western Connecticut.

Biography

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!)

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Boynton's greeting cards featuring cute, likable animals have been deservedly popular. Here she uses similar critters in a book that aims to spoof human ``turkeys,'' who are like nerds but are self-confident, she writes. Although her drawings continue to be simple and appealing, the overall theme is too diffuse and the humor often feeble. There are familiar pokes at people who talk in movie theaters and who drop by for visits unannounced. There are ineffective word plays (prehistoric turkeys included the ``Cro-Turgnon,'' and Boynton is listed as a Ph.T.). And, inexplicably, a note to the reader is signed by the author, the publisher and ``William Shakespeare, bard.'' This is a jumble, and the gems (``the most distinctive characteristic of a Medical Turkey is its very large bill'') are too rare. (May)