American Library Association's official publication has covered the Goops!

Don’t Put Peas Up Your Nose!
Teaching Children Manners

by Jodi Forschmeidt - Spring 2005

When I began teaching in the 1990s, I was surprised by the rude and inconsiderate behavior I saw some children display at school. I expected the middle-school students to be ill-mannered; it goes with early adolesence. But even elementary-school children talked back or outright ignored adults. They threw food at one another, poured milk on the floor, and disobeyed the lunchroom monitors. On the playground, scuffles often broke out when two children wanted a single toy and neither would make the gracious gesture of allowing the other to use it first. In the classroom, students interrupted each other and the teacher. They did not request but rudely demanded assistance, materials, and attention. Clearly these children needed to learn some manners.

Recent studies have demonstrated that one-third of career success or failure can be attributed to social skills or the lack thereof. With the current focus on making school relevant to the workplace, teachers must address the need for students to learn how to get along with others. At the elementary-school level, that means starting with the basics: nice manners.

Parents and teachers have relied on literature to gently instruct their charges in the ways of polite society for many years. In 1900, Gelett Burgess penned Goops and How to BeThem: A Manual of Manners for Polite Infants. Each page contains a verse about proper behavior, and a charming illustration of an ill-mannered “goop.”