The Goody: being a goody two shoes and the expectations that come with that

What is this about?

The perils and expectations that come with being good or bad.

What else is this about?

Expectations, mostly.

Blurb

Chirton Krauss is a good child – the very goodest. He does everything he is told, when he is told. He even does good things without being told. He eats his broccoli, he goes to bed on time and he never, ever sticks his finger up his nose.

Meanwhile, Chirton’s sister, Myrtle, is NOT a good child. She stays up late, she never cleans out the rabbit’s hutch and she drops her choco puffs all over the carpet!

But what will happen when Chirton Krauss decides that being THE GOODY isn’t so good after all?

A charmingly funny story about the importance of kindness, and allowing children the freedom to be themselves. From Lauren Child, multi-award-winning creator of Charlie and Lola and Waterstone’s Children’s Laureate 2017-2019.

Hands up, if you were a goody two shoes growing up?

I know I was, though I didn’t realise it at the time. Is it a first child syndrome, maybe?

Who knows, but I did what I was told. And my sisters maybe reaped the benefits of getting away with more than I did.

The Goody is the story of Chirton Krauss, a child who always does what he is told, and sometimes does things no one has told him to do. However, his sister Myrtle, most decidedly is not a goody. She forgets to clean out the rabbit’s hutch for example, and was so not-good she didn’t even get goody bags at the end of parties.

But, this is what the book presents: if people keep telling you you’re good, you don’t want to disappoint them by being bad. And if you’re told constantly that you’re bad, you start to believe that and being good becomes that much harder.

Expectations can play a part in how we think so much, can’t they?

So Chirton begins to wonder what’s so good about being good, considering everything Myrtle gets away with. He makes the decision to misbehave and watches Myrtle get all the good stuff, like going to a party he wanted to go to.

It’s the rabbit’s hutch that changes Chirton’s behaviour because he can see what not cleaning the hutch was doing to the rabbit who couldn’t hop around in the hutch any longer. Chirton realises that being kind when you can is what makes a person good. The book ends, with Myrtle for her part trying to be good.

This simple message is accompanied by some gorgeous art, makes for a wonderful learning experience for young readers.