There is a little bit of naughty that lives in us all, and Barbara Ross recognizes this. Ross is the founder of Goops Unlimited, a company on a crusade to bring manners and polite behavior back into the lives of contemporary families. And her latest attempt is the re-release of the humorous book, Goop Tales: Alphabetically Told, originally printed 100-years-ago!
With wit and whimsy, the characters in Goop Tales represent the childish tendencies, and immature pranks every human is familiar with. The characters display such taboos as speaking out of turn, and taking things that don’t belong to them, but are presented in such a way as to become endearing to the reader. Children learn in relation to the Goops, “While its fun to see them, it’s terrible to be them.”
Having made an appearance in Webster’s Dictionary, Goops are described as “Rude creatures devoid of beauty and grace.” And throughout the numerous drawings and verse in Goop Tales, this concept is perfectly illustrated. But there is a goal in mind, and that is to teach children to recognize impolite behavior and stray from it as much as possible.
Goop Tales, Alphabetically Told was first published in 1904, by Gelett Burgess. He took great care in naming each character, and dressing them in festive costumes so as to match the manner they represented. Dedicating a boy and girl character for every letter in the alphabet, Goop Tales goes to great lengths in teaching both the alphabet, and the importance of learning manners and polite behavior.
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