The Goody

July 1, 2021

Gr 2-4-When your parents label you "The Goody" as compared to your sibling, does this restrict you from exploring your personality and expressing yourself? "Goody" Chirton discovers that it does. His willful sister Myrtle is allowed to stay up late watching TV, she doesn't have to eat her broccoli, and she never remembers to clean the rabbit's pen. Does she misbehave because she's labeled as bad? Myrtle discovers that she does. When she gets the opportunity to be herself with someone who doesn't know she's "bad," Myrtle behaves well and feels good about herself. Chirton sums up their similar experiences: "Being a Goody is not what makes you nice. But being nice when you can be nice can make you feel good." Exploring children's feelings when they are labeled, Child uses color, space, and geometric lines to direct the action and suggest rigid structure in the characters' lives. Black text at the top of the page is separated by a thick white border from the colorful illustration beneath. At the bottom of the page, red text contains plot-related questions and comments that extend the story line into a conversation between the author and reader. VERDICT This story provides an intimate exploration of children's feelings and can be paired with similar picture books including Jory John's The Bad Seed and Mo Willems's The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too!-Monica Fleche, Rochester P. L., Rochester, NY

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Starred review from September 27, 2021
Chirton Krauss has a strong sense of responsibility and self-discipline: he always eats his broccoli (“every single stalk”), always uses soap when washing his hands, and always goes to bed right on time. His sister Myrtle, meanwhile, is known to be so incapable of behaving that she isn’t invited to birthday parties anymore. Their brown-skinned parents praise Chirton as “The Goody” (even giving him a badge with that title), decide that Myrtle “isn’t
a Goody,” and accept the status quo. But Chirton begins to realize that maybe Myrtle is on to something: she skips her turn cleaning out the pet rabbit’s cage because she knows he’ll do it, and she gets to stay up late because the babysitter can’t deal with disciplining her. “Now... does that sound fair to you?” Child (the Charlie and Lola series) asks, in one of the many times she breaks the fourth wall. The resolution isn’t neat and tidy, and neither are Child’s images, which take her elaborately patterned collaging to a new level in a book that raises provocative and profound questions about expectations, fairness, morality, and pigeonholing. Ages 4–8.

March 25, 2022
Grades K-3 Chirton is such a goody-goody--he always eats his broccoli, goes to bed on time without complaint, and cleans the rabbit hutch even when it's his sister Myrtle's turn--that his parents give him a Goody Badge. Myrtle, however, is a bad child, and if adults decide you are bad then you don't dare disappoint them by being good. But she never has to eat broccoli or clean the rabbit hutch, and when they have babysitters, she gets to stay up late watching television and eating cereal. Chirton begins to wonder what was so good about being a goody anyway--and he soon finds out. Child's books are often terrific discussion piece for adults and young readers about milestones in social-emotional development, and this book adroitly addresses everything from discipline and sibling rivalry to behavioral patterns, as well as obedience versus rebellion. Presented in mixed-media collage with hand-cut textured papers and patterned fabric, and keeping a family of color at the forefront, this many-layered book is skillfully and entertainingly presented.

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