When Margery and Tommy Meanwell are orphaned, after their father is driven off his farm by the greedy landlord, Sir Timothy Gripe, the two young people find themselves in a terrible situation. Their wealthy relatives won't take them in, and although a well-meaning clergyman attempts to help Margery, after her brother goes to sea, Sir Timothy and Farmer Graspall (what an aptronym that is!) force him to abandon her. Despite her poverty, Margery has the two shoes given to her by the kind Mr. Smith - something for which she rejoices, leading to her nickname "Margery Two Shoes" - and she sets out to improve herself, teaching herself to read. When she warns Sir William Dove and Sir Timothy about a plot against them, the former establishes her as a teacher in a little country school. Here she adopts many teaching methods that were new and progressive for that time (the 18th century), incorporating movement into her lessons, and emphasizing the importance of kindness to our animal friends. Becoming something of a moral authority in the locale, Margery is accused of witchcraft because of her many animal companions, but she is championed by Sir William. Eventually she marries Sir Charles Jones, is reunited with her brother Tommy, and becomes a benevolent force in her area...

First published by John Newbery in 1765, The History of Little Goody Two Shoes; Otherwise Called Mrs. Margery Two-Shoes was a ground-breaking work, in the history of Anglophone children's literature, and although many contemporary readers might find it overly didactic, it actually had considerably more levity and entertainment value than the children's books - many of them produced by the Puritans, and other religious figures - that preceded it. It is not the source of the term "little goody two shoes," which we today understand to be a person who is nauseatingly rule-driven and "good," but it certainly popularized it. What's fascinating about this, is that the word "goody" is actually an abbreviated form of the English honorific "Goodwife," which was used to address women of a social status lower than "mistress" (i.e.: the mistress of a house), and didn't have the same connotation of overwhelming and obnoxious virtue that it currently does. Perhaps when the original meaning of "Goody" was lost, people assumed it meant "good," and came to think that "little goody two shoes" had a mocking ring to it.

However that may be, the story here was engaging, and had many fascinating elements. The author begins with a discussion of land leasing and its injustice, which opens a window into the social issues of the day. The educational methods used by Margery were also interesting, and the focus on humane treatment of animals eye-opening. This latter is a theme one sees often in 18th-century children's literature. Sir William's comments on the stupidity of witchcraft accusations - "a Woman must be very poor, very old, and live in a Neighborhood, where the People are very stupid, before she can possibly pass for a Witch" - were both apt and entertaining. Finally, the social rise of Margery is of note - she starts out as the orphaned daughter of a poor farmer, and winds up a wealthy, titled lady - as the 18th century sees the very beginning of the breakdown of the nobility as the primary authority in England. The authorship of this book is contested - like all of Newbery's books, it was published anonymously, although some attribute it to Oliver Goldsmith - but whoever created it certainly did something different! Recommended to all readers with an interest in 18th-century English children's books, or in the titles published by John Newbery. ( )

This is the story that popularized the phrase "goody two-shoes", and it is one of those horrible morality tales for children where virtue is rewarded -- especially the kind of female virtue that is demure, long-suffering and harder-working, and that serves as childhood indoctrination. The kind of made-up, unrealistic, ideologically pure story that intensely Christian people or blinkered political pundits would hold up as evidence that their ideology is right. ( )