| When Barbara Ross was a youngster, there was a common cry if she or one of her siblings misbehaved.
"We'd yell, 'Mom, he's being a Goop!'" says the Battle Ground resident who is now a grandmother.
Ross learned about the Goops from a book that's been handed down in her family for nearly a century: "Goops: And How To Be Them."
Ross, along with her younger brother and older sister, learned much about proper behavior for children from the Goops. And Ross said she felt there was much today's children could learn from it, too.
So Ross re-released the book, staying faithful to its original rhymes and reproducing its original illustrations.
It wasn't an easy task.
Ross' copy of Goops has passed through many hands over the years, which has taken a toll. The edges of pages had become soiled and some small hands even felt the need to color inside it.
It took a year, Ross said, of photocopies and computers to clean the book up enough for publication.
Ross said her grandmother, Maryette Hotchkiss, ordered the family's Goops book, which was copyrighted in 1900.
Maryette traveled from Boston to Montana in a covered wagon. She met a rancher in Montana, and the couple had six children.
Maryette read the book to her children, and then passed it to her oldest son, who read it to Ross and her sibings. Ross then read the book to her own children.
When her grandson was born, Ross dug the book out of storage and remembered the valuable lessons she had learned.
She did some research and learned the copyright had expired. That allowed Ross to re-release "Goops," which was originally written by Gelett Burgess. "I felt that children needed more fun in learning their manners," she said. "One hundred years ago, we were teaching kids exactly what we want them to learn today."
The book covers many topics, from patience and tidiness to table manners and honesty to courtesy and neatness. Each topic has a rhyme explaining it.
Tables Manners I says:
The Goops they lick their fingers
And the Goops they lick their knives.
They spill their broth on the tablecloth--
Oh, they lead disgusting lives!
The Goops they talk while eating.
And loud and fast they chew.
And that is why I'm glad that I
Am not a Goop-are you?
Ross has changed the book's front cover, which was a bright red. The cover of the new version contains an illustration inside the original "Goops" book.
She also substituted more modern or simpler words in some of the rhymes.
Ross said she has enjoyed and been surprised by the many people who say they remember the Goops from their childhood.
The book is published by Peanut Butter Publishing in Seattle, and is currently available at the Barnes and Noble bookstore at Vancouver Plaza.
The book costs $12.95.
Ross said she's taking the book's distributions and publicity slowly. "I'm trying to take it one step at a time," she said. "I'm really a novice at this."
Ross will read from the book Sat., April 10, 11 a.m., at Barnes and Noble, Vancouver Plaza. |
