More Goops and How Not to Be Them

by Gelett Burgess, Mark F. Smith (Narrator)

Deep in the heart of every parent is the wish, the desire, to have other adults tell us, in an unsolicited way, just how very polite one’s child is! This perhaps was even more the case in 1903, when Gelett Burgess produced his second book on the Goops. With entertaining cartoons – cariacatures of misbehaving children – he described many different breaches of tact and good manners.

Burgess wrote several books of poetry on the Goops, each poem describing some significant way in which an unthoughtful or unkind child could offend polite society and often offering the hope that the listener would never behave that way. Ahem! Well, perhaps very few people have succeeded in not acting Goop-like at some point in their lives, but read along with Burgess as he attempts to define, in a humorous fashion, exactly what the differences between “Good” and “Goop” are!

Genres: Poetry, Childrens, Humor, Fiction, Classics, Picture Books

1 pages, Audiobook

First published January 1, 1903

About the author

Frank Gelett Burgess was an artist, art critic, poet, author and humorist. An important figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary renaissance of the 1890s, particularly through his iconoclastic little magazine, The Lark, he is best known as a writer of nonsense verse, such as "The Purple Cow", and for introducing French modern art to the United States in an essay titled "The Wild Men of Paris." He was the author of the popular Goops books, and he coined the term "blurb."

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up with the GOOPS. I remember them fondly. A few years ago, my mother found them again for me. I think I was more receptive to them than my children are. I think my children are GOOPS! The horror!

[Ambrose Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wished I had read this book when I was young, so I could have avoided being a Goop. Great fun, now that I am no longer one...

[Helynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was small, I had a book of children’s poems that had two stanzas of Gelett Burgess’s collection about “The Goops”—specifically, the lines about table manners: “The goops they lick their fingers. The goops they lick their knives. They spill their broth on the table cloth. They lead disgusting lives.” Henceforth, whenever my table manners flagged, my mother would admonish me “not to be a Goop.” The illustrations depict these little losers as ugly, round-headed, bald guys—certainly, not the type any child would want to emulate. What I did not know until recently is that Burgess (1866-1951) wrote several collections of poems about a variety of bad behaviors by the Goops. This particular collection of clever, often laugh-outloud poems has a few more pieces about table manners, but it also includes others that warn kids about the undesirablilty of lots of other kinds of of Goop antics. Some fun poems include “Window-Smoochers,” (leaving greasy smudges on the glass); “A Low Trick” (Goops who pull a chair out from under someone else); “Nell the Nibbler” (pigging out on Goop food); “When to Go” (overstaying one’s welcome at other people’s homes); “Piano Torture” (banging mindlessly on the keys); “Visiting” (“It’s better to be slighted than to stay when not invited, For they never ask a Goop to come again!”); “Book Manners” (scribbling in books); and one of my favorites, “Exaggeration” (“Don’t try to be more funny than anyone at school, For if you’re not, they’ll laugh a lot and think you are a fool.”) Some of the poems do not cite infractions, but rather urge kids toward good conduct. For example, “The Duty of the Strong” reminds bigger kids to help the littler ones. Every single poem is a gem and a reminder to kids everywhere to stop the whining, demanding, littering, showing off, spitting, nose-picking, tattling, cheating, saying “ain’t,” and numerous other shenanigans that make parents cringe.

[Joshua Bohnsack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes. I want to beat these lessons into my future children.

[Mandy Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sure love the Goops, and so do my kids. I didn’t love this one as much as the first one, mostly because I felt like there more poems in it that didn’t relate to today’s day and age (ex. Stealing Rides, Borrowed Plumes, In the Street, Danger!, etc...) but there is still some great ideas and conversation-starters in here to discuss with your kids. Our particular favorites are: Piano Torture, Exaggeration, and Don’t Be Good. We will definitely be reading this again.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

More cautionary verse teaching children how to be good citizens and NOT Goops! This is the second installment in what I understand is a fairly long series of Goop books. The more I read, the more they grow on me. I especially enjoy the original illustrations.

[Nancy (Colorado) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blast from the past.

[laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute and the narrator does such a fine job.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anyone else remember this author?