The Goody

Written by: Lauren Child

First Line: Chirton Krauss was a good child, the very goodest.

Why you should read this book: For a kid's book, this story gets pretty deep, depicting the ways that adults lazily typecast their own children, locking them into roles that cut the child down and prevent them from growing as individuals. Chirton is the "goody" who always does what he's supposed to do, regardless of how he feels about it, and his sister Myrtle does whatever she feels like doing, regardless of what she's supposed to do, and accepts that she's the bad child. When Chirton finally gets fed up with the inequality of the situation, both kids get to experience life from the other point of view and they, and their parents, come to accept that nobody fits neatly into a behavioral box, and nobody should have to, and that it's best for children to be seen as children and not be reduced to binaries. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: If you were always the good kid who always suffered while your siblings slacked off and you never addressed this with your family of origin, this book might be a bit heartbreaking/