middle names for girls: Eylül 2012

30 Eylül 2012 Pazar

Old School Sunday: Whatever Happened to Janie? by Caroline Cooney

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Whatever Happened to Janie? by Caroline Cooney. 1993. Random House. 224 pages. ISBN: 9780440219248

Whatever Happened to Janie? picks up not long after the cliffhanger ending of The Face on the Milk Carton. Janie is sent to live with her biological family, the Springs, who welcome their long-lost sister with open arms. Janie, on the other hand, feels horrible about leaving the Johnsons, the parents who raised her, and she just can’t get the hang of the way the Spring household does things. It seems no matter what she does, someone is offended. Jodie and Stephen Spring, the two siblings who remember their sister Jennie from before her kidnapping, try hard to make Janie feel welcome, but they, too, find it difficult to strike the right balance between making up for lost time and dealing with the past.

This second Janie Johnson story presents the reader with another impossible situation - how does a teenage girl start over in a new family when she still loves the family that raised her? This dilemma is presented from every point of view - Janie’s, the Johnsons’, the Springs’, even Janie’s boyfriend Reeve’s - and readers are drawn into each character’s struggle to make things right.

As in the first book, Caroline Cooney’s writing moves along swiftly, taking us through time without dwelling too long on any one incident or character. There is some description, but readers who are bored by long passages without dialogue won’t find themselves bogged down by pages and pages of details. The ending is somewhat romanticized - it seems unlikely that the comment of a police officer to a couple of teenagers would truly be enough to cure them of their resentment toward their sister - but it fits with the mood of the story, and does wrap things up neatly without becoming too maudlin or opening up even more complications at the tail-end of the book. That said, the ending isn’t so cut and dried that readers won’t want more. There are two - soon to be three - more books after this one, and Cooney left herself lots of room to explore.

I remember this book much more clearly than The Face on the Milk Carton, but had still forgotten how things ultimately turn out, so it was a bit like I was reading it for the first time all over again. I’m really looking forward to reviewing the next book, The Voice on the Radio, because I remember that one best of all, and I’m curious to see if it will live up to the memories I have of it.

I borrowed the ebook version of Whatever Happened to Janie? from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

Top Alternative Spellings Of USA Boys' Names 2012

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Since January 1st 2012 I have collected 3, 500 + examples of baby boy names given in the USA. Based on that here are the fastest rising alternative spellings there so far this year. I hope you enjoy reading them.

1.) Alan instead of Allen or Allan
2.) Jaxson rather than Jackson or Jaxon
3.) Landen rather than Landon
4.) Lukas instead of Lucas
5.) Blaze instead of Blaise
6.) Alexzander instead of Alexander
7.) Rowen instead of Rowan
8.) Sylas instead of Silas
9.) Graysen instead of Grayson
10.) Kylar instead of Kyler

Good names for "Irish" cats to be adopted on St. Patrick's Day?

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Hi,

Our local animal shelter is having a St. Patrick's Day adoption celebration for cats. Do you have any good Irish names for cats? I know for people they say "Patty O'Furniture, etc. Thank you.|||Erin, Shannon, Siobhan, Fergus, Aislinn

O'Shea, Shaunessy, Killian, McDonough, and for any cat with whte feet: McMittens|||It you want the names to be really Irish, it's Paddy (not Patty) and Seamus (not Shamis)

Most Irish first names are crazy weird. Irish surnames are better. Here a list: http://www.namenerds.com/irish/last.html

I like Guinness.|||http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Drinkéˆ¥?/a>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Cat_Boéˆ¥?/a>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Laughs|||Claude O'Furniture might be more fitting lol. Some Irish names are: Murray, Seamus, Sean, Erin, Colleen and Tara.|||Lucky, Clover, Patrick|||Shamis|||a great name for an irish cat is paddy or shammy...............

29 Eylül 2012 Cumartesi

Top Alternative Spellings Of USA Boys' Names 2012

Good names for "Irish" cats to be adopted on St. Patrick's Day?

28 Eylül 2012 Cuma

Review: Babymouse for President by Jennifer & Matthew Holm

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Babymouse for President. by Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm. July 10, 2012. Random House. 96 pages. ISBN: 9780375967801

Disgusted by the school lunches, Babymouse decides to run for president of the student council. The competition is fierce - Santiago, Felicia, Georgie, and even Babymouse’s locker have also entered the race, and their platforms, promises, and campaign posters are pretty impressive. Desperate to win votes, Babymouse starts promising anything and everything to anyone who asks - including her soul. It’s not until she enters the school debate that she realizes what it truly takes to be a successful leader.

As with the other titles in the series, the key to the success of this Babymouse story is not the plot itself, which is rather generic, but the way the story is drawn and told. Some of the jokes this time around are obvious - Babymouse’s face on a five dollar bill, the Babymouse Memorial, and renaming the White House as the Pink House - but others - such as the take-off on the Obama “Hope” poster pictured below, and her Hoover-esque campaign slogan, “A cupcake in every locker” are subtle and clever.

This book is sure to be hugely popular because all Babymouse books usually are, but what’s nice about this particular volume is that it gives kids a nice gateway into learning about the election. If kids took the time to learn just the sources of the allusions in this book, they would already know a lot of things about the American presidency, and hopefully, these simple facts would inspire them to seek even more knowledge. I also like the ending, which is, as Babymouse would say, typical, but also true to what often happens in real life.

I plan to use this book and a few other election-themed children’s stories for a passive program at my library later in the Fall. I’ll be asking kids to vote for the fictional character they think would make the best president, whether it’s Duck, Bad Kitty, Grace or Babymouse herself!

I borrowed Babymouse for President from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

Top Alternative Spellings Of USA Boys' Names 2012

Top 20 Middle Names For Boys England 2012

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I have collected the name details for hundreds of baby boys born in England since the start of 2012. Based on that here is the top 20 middle names that English boys are being given. All possible variant spelllings have been taken into account when calculating any names popularity.

1.) James
2.) David
3.) John
4.) Paul
5.) Peter
6.) William
7.) Ray
8.) Edward
9.) Joseph
10.) Andrew
11.)Ryan
12.) Richard
13.) Elliot
14.) Alan
15.) Christopher
16.) George
17.) Charles
18.) Hugh
19.) Thomas
20.) Mark

Top Growing Trends for Baby Girls 2012- England

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These names aren't yet amongst the very most popular names for English baby girls 2012 but they are growing at a strong rate. All possible variant spellings have been taken into account when calculating any names profile. Come back in about a week to see the lastest list of names that are in the English top 30 for both boys and girls.

1.) Lexie
2.) Heidi
3.) Ivy
4.) Alexia
5.) Lilah
6.) Hallie
7.) Nevaeh (heaven backwards)
8.) Quinn
9.) Skyler
10.) Lottie

Good names for "Irish" cats to be adopted on St. Patrick's Day?

27 Eylül 2012 Perşembe

Top 50 Baby Girl Names USA 2012

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Based on my sister and I's collection of 4000+ baby girls birth announcements since January 1st 2012. All possible variant spellings of each name have been taken into account when calculating any names popularity. Please see earlier posts for statistics on middle names used for girls in the USA so far this year. If you'd like an alphabetical list of all names being used at a frequency of 1 in 300 births or more often in North America 2012 please see my other blog Unusual Names and do a search. That info is updated monthly and is available for both boys and girls. A USA girls top 75 for 2012 will appear here early October.

1.) Ava
2.) Sophia
3.) Emma
4.) Chloe
5.) Addison
6.) Isabella
7.) Rylee
8.) Lily
9.) Ella
10.) Avery
11.) Aubree
12.) Hailey
13.) Kaitlyn
14.) Olivia
15.) Bailey
16.) Zoe
17.) Aaliyah
18.) Layla
19.) Abigail
20.) Madison
21.) Brooklyn
22.) Emily
23.) Madelyn
24.) Peyton
25.) Kaylee
26.) Harper
27.) Allison
28.) Hannah
29.) Natalie
30.) Lillian
31.) Kylee
32.) Arianna
33.) Adelyn
34.) Annabelle
35.) Grace
36.) Mia
37.) Paisley
38.) Carly
39.) Isabelle
40.) Sydney
41.) Autumn
42.) Makayla
43.) Katherine
44.) Macie
45.) Charlotte
46.) Samantha
47.) Anna
48.) Alaina
49.) Brianna
50.) Scarlett

Top 50 Baby Boy Names 2012 USA

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Based on my sister and I 's study of 4000+ baby boy birth announcements collected in the USA since January 1st 2012. All possible variant spellings for each name have been considered when calculating any name's popularity. Official statistics and most other sources of name data fail to do this and so can be very misleading. One example spelling is given for each name here for ease of reading. For an alphabetical list of all names being used at a frequency of 1 in 300 births or more for baby boys in the USA 2012 please see my other blog Unusual Names and do a search. That info is updated monthly. Check back here early October for a top 75.

1.) Jaxon
2.) Caden
3.) Aiden
4.) Colton
5.) Noah
6.) Jacob
7.) Carter
8.) Michael
9.) Elijah
10.) Lucas
11.) Brayden
12.) Landon
13.) Mason
14.) Hunter
15.) Caleb
16.) Logan
17.) Liam
18.) Jayden
19.) Dylan
20.) Wyatt
21.) Connor
22.) Carson
23.) Levi
24.) Benjamin
25.) Bryson
26.) Andrew
27.) Jack
28.) James
29.) Evan
30.) Owen
31.) Ethan
32.) Easton
33.) Henry
34.) Gabriel
35.) Greyson
36.) Blake
37.) Isaac
38.) Joseph
39.) Bentley
40.) Cameron
41.) Alexander
42.) Gavin
43.) Hudson
44.) Aaron
45.) Hayden
46.) Joshua
47.) Thomas
48.) Isaiah
49.) Jace
50.) Nicholas

Top 50 Baby Girl Names England 2012

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Based on my sister and I's collection of the birth details of hundreds of baby girls in England since January 1st 2012. All possible alternative spellings of each name have been taken into account when calculating it's popularity. This is the only way to show you how common a name will really sound yet official statistics and most other sources of name info fail to do this. For an alphabetical list of all baby girl names used in Great Britain 2012 at a frequency of 1 in 300 births or more often please see my other blog Unusual Names and search for Great Britain 2012. That info is updated monthly. Come back here early October for an English top 75.

1.) Lily
2.) May (thanks to it's huge amount of use in double first names)
3.) Poppy
4.) Jessica
5.) Ava
6.) Daisy
7.) Isla (it would not suprise me to see this as number 1 by this time next year)
8.) Sophia
9.) Florence
10.) Freya
11.) Rose (due largely to it's use in double first names)
12.) Olivia
13.) Isabella
14.) Evie
15.) Amelia
16.) Annabelle
17.) Matilda
18.) Grace
19.) Neve
20.) Phoebe
21.) Maisy
22.) Emily
23.) Amelie
24.) Mia
25.) Holly
26.) Evelyn
27.) Darcie
28.) Molly
29.) Amy
30.) Macey
31.) Elizabeth
32.) Gracie
33.) Lacey
34.) Scarlett
35.) Ella
36.) Emilia
37.) Sophia
38.) Leila
39.) Bethany
40.) Chloe
41.) Lola
42.) Jane (due entirely to it's use in double first names)
43.) Eva
44.) Imogen
45.) Rosie
46.) Lara
47.) Ruby
48.) Sienna
49.) Louise
50.) Lily-Mae

Good names for "Irish" cats to be adopted on St. Patrick's Day?

Easy Reader Radar: Pearl and Wagner: Five Days Till Summer by Kate McMullan

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Pearl and Wagner: Five Days Till Summer. by Kate McMullan, illustrated by R.W. Alley. May 10, 2012. Dial. 40 pages. ISBN: 9780803735897

Pearl and Wagner: Five Days Till Summer is a Level 3 Transitional Reader from the Penguin Young Readers series which has a Guided Reading level of K, and is formatted just like a chapter book. This format is perfect for readers who aren’t quite ready for chapter books, but don’t want their books to look babyish. The story itself is also more involved than some of the easy reader stories at levels one and two.

As summer vacation approaches, Pearl and Wagner’s teacher, Ms. Star, takes her class to visit Mr. Hat’s students. These are the kids who will be in Ms. Star’s class next year. This visit prompts Pearl to ask who her teacher will be next year. When she learns that it will be Ms. Bean, she peeks in her classroom and immediately decides, based on the quiet class and Ms. Bean’s clothes, that she is mean. This rumor spreads through Ms. Star’s class right up until the day Ms. Bean and her class come to visit. Then Pearl has to decide once and for all whether she will brave class with Ms. Bean or stay behind in Ms. Star’s class.

There are a lot of books about the first day of school, but not nearly as many about the last, and very few at all about the question of being assigned a new teacher. This story is as appropriate for this time of year, when kids are gearing up to go back to school, as it is for the start of summer, as it deals with all the anxiety surrounding changing classrooms and getting to know a new teacher. Kate McMullan really captures the way kids see adults, and also the way kids communicate with each other about their fears and concerns. I would have liked to see some more obvious differences between the three teachers, because I think it would have been a nice way to emphasize the point that Pearl - and therefore the child reader - could do well no matter what sort of personality the teacher has, but I understand that might have been more character development than a book of this type really allows.

The publisher’s description of Level 3 readers advertises “multisyllable and compound words”, “more dialogue”, “different points of view”, and “more complex storylines and characters,” and this book includes most of those things. The story involves lots of dialogue from lots of different speakers and words like “cafeteria,” “stupendous,” and “astonishing” provide some challenges for more fluent readers who are ready to take on longer words. I don’t think we deviate very much from Pearl’s point of view, but the story has a definite point of view, which is a marked difference from some of the lower-level readers where the narrators are all third-person omniscient.

I’m a fan of R.W. Alley, and his illustrations for this book are especially charming. Pearl’s expressive face helps the reader understand her growing worries about Ms. Bean, and the other students’ faces change subtly to show how they do and do not share her concerns at different points in the story. My favorite of all the figures is probably Mr. Hat; something about a big-headed zebra in a bow tie just makes me happy. The image of all the characters pointing to Pearl as the source of the rumors about Ms. Bean is also very well done and speaks volumes on its own, even without reference to the text.

There are some cliches I could have done without - the pig whose chief concern is lunch, and the rhyming of bean with mean - but overall, Pearl and Wagner: Five Days Till Summer is a winner. Recommend it to kids who have enjoyed the Iris and Walter, Katie Woo, Zelda and Ivy, and Andy Shane series.

I borrowed Pearl and Wagner: Five Days Till Summer from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

26 Eylül 2012 Çarşamba

Top 50 Baby Boy Names England 2012

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Based on my sister and I's collection of more than a 1500 English baby boys' birth details since January 1st 2012. All possible variant spellings have been taken into account when calculating any name's popularity to give you truly accurate results. Look out for a top 75 published here in early October. In the meantime look out for other themed posts on English baby boy names. For an alphabetical list of all names being used in Great Britain at a frequency of 1 in 300 births or more often please see my other blog Unusual Names and do a search foer Great Britain 2012. That info is updated monthly.

1.)Harry
2.) Oliver
3.) Noah
4.) Thomas
5.) Jack
6.) George
7.) William
8.) Oscar
9.) James
10.) Alfie
11.) Edward
12.) Henry
13.) Riley
14.) Max
15.) Freddie
16.) Ethan
17.) Jenson
18.) Zach
19.) Leo
20.) Charlie
21.) Joseph
22.) Mason
23.) Harrison
24.) Callum
25.) Dylan
26.) Tyler
27.) Samuel
28.) Kai
29.) Charles
30.) Isaac
31.) Daniel
32.) Jude
33.) Frederick
34.) Connor
35.) Luke
36.) Logan
37.) Benjamin
38.) Jacob
39.) Bobby
40.) Aaron
41.) Finlay
42.) Archie
43.) Cayden
44.) Jake
45.) Hayden
46.) Harvey
47.) Leon
48.) Toby
49.) Arthur
50.) Evan

Good names for "Irish" cats to be adopted on St. Patrick's Day?

Short Story Spotlight: Barbie by Gary Soto

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"Barbie" by Gary Soto. from Baseball in April and Other Stories by Gary Soto. Sandpiper. 1990. ISBN: 9780152025670

Veronica, the Mexican-American girl at the center of Gary Soto’s “Barbie,” really wants a Barbie doll. Though she has an imitation Barbie, she thinks of her as ugly, and imagines that only the real doll, with her blonde hair, tiny waist, and wonderful boyfriend, is truly beautiful. When she finally receives the coveted doll from her uncle’s new fiancee, Veronica can’t wait to show her off, and she takes Barbie to a friend’s house. Somewhere between the friend’s and home, though, Barbie loses her head, resulting in extreme disappointment for Veronica.

This story would have frustrated me somewhat as a kid because it doesn’t draw its own conclusions. Soto raises a series of important issues in this very short piece - identity, beauty, family, friendship, sharing - but he does not connect the dots. The reader is left to comb through the text and figure out what is meant by it. The reader gets to decide whether Veronica’s possession of the Barbie doll was worth it. The reader is left to figure out the significance the doll’s lost head, of Veronica’s mother’s uncertainty about the uncle’s impending marriage, and the importance of the imitation Barbie doll. These unanswered questions make it a great story for teaching kids how to analyze a short story, but they make it less satisfying as entertainment.

Soto’s writing style in this story - and in others in Baseball in April - is much more literary and intellectual than a lot of children’s books I read. In fact, even though this story is about a young girl playing with dolls, I think it is sophisticated enough that older readers - middle school students, and even high school students - are the audience that will truly understand and appreciate it.

My personal favorite part of “Barbie,” aside from the nostalgia associated with my own lost Barbie heads, is the dialogue Veronica invents for Barbie and the imitation doll.

“Oh, look - boys!” the ugly doll said. “They’re so cute.”

“Oh ,those boys,” Barbie said coolly. “They’re OK, but Ken is so much more handsome. And richer.”

“They’re good-looking to me. I’m not as pretty as you, Barbie.”

“That’s true,” Barbie said. “But I still like you. How’s your sandwich?”

“Good, but not as good as your sandwich,” the ugly doll said.

So much is happening in this scene, even though the dolls do most of the talking. Not only is this authentic dialogue for a girl playing with her dolls, but through this scene, the reader comes to understand Veronica’s feelings of inferiority when faced with what the Barbie ads on television have told her is true beauty.

This story provides great opportunities for classroom or book group discussions about the influence of media on kids, and the influence of Barbie herself on American culture. Based on this story alone, I completely understand why Baseball in April turns up on summer reading lists even 22 years after its publication.

I borrowed Baseball in April from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

Review: Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson

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Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life. by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts, illustrated by Laura Park. 2011. Little, Brown. 288 pages. ISBN: 9780316101875

Rafe Khatchadorian has just started sixth grade, and he’s decided to shake things up a bit with a project he calls Operation R.A.F.E. - Rules Aren’t For Everyone. With the help of his best friend, the imaginary Leo the Silent, Rafe plans to break every rule in the student handbook - and do his best not to get caught.

Like Patterson’s novels for adults, this early teen novel has his signature short chapters, which make the story into a page-turner. Rafe is a really engaging character with a great voice and he got a lot of sympathy from me for his unhappy home life, his problems making friends, and the true story behind Leo the Silent. I think the concept for the book is great - breaking all the rules lends itself to a nice structure, and gives the reader a reason to keep following the story. I also think it’s wonderful to have a “middle school stinks” book narrated by a boy. It’s not just girls who have trouble adjusting to life in middle school!

The art in this book matches the story perfectly. Rafe draws real and imaginary events from his life, which really get at what he is feeling. The drawings in the book sometimes tell the reader things that Rafe would not necessarily come right out and say himself, and they’re also just really eye-catching and similar to what kids are used to seeing in graphic novels and Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.

Patterson is such a successful author because he knows how to write what people want to read. Kids love diary fiction and graphic novels, and by incorporating those two popular concepts into his novel, he’s created a sure hit. Thankfully, he’s also written something engaging, funny, and edifying, that shows kids just what happens when one decides to become a troublemaker.

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life pairs well with Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Troublemaker by Andrew Clements, Tom Angelberger’s Origami Yoda books, and Ben H. Winters’s Bethesda Fielding mysteries.

I borrowed Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

Review: The Slumber Party Payback by Derrick Barnes

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The Slumber Party Payback. by Derrick Barnes. 2008. Scholastic. 176 pages. ISBN: 9780545017626

The Slumber Party Payback is the third book in the Ruby and the Booker Boys series by Derrick Barnes. Ruby is the youngest in her family, and the only girl after her three brothers, Marcellus, Tyner, and Roosevelt. Roosevelt, who calls himself Ro Rowdy, is the chief antagonist in this story, where Ruby wants to host a sleepover party. The last time she had friends sleep over, Ro ruined the party with a series of pranks. This time, Ruby hopes he will keep out of her business, but when he proves that he can’t, she decides the best solution is to pay him back with a taste of his own medicine.

To its credit, this book has an upbeat, fun tone, and Ruby herself is a positive girl who tries not to let things get her down. Unfortunately, the entire time I was reading, I had this sense that something was slightly off. One problem is the way Ruby and her friends talk. The girls often address each other as “girl” or “girlie.” I think it’s reasonable that they might do this some of the time, but it happens so often in this book that it started to become cartoonish. I have heard writers give the advice that less is more when it comes to writing with local color. I think the same is true for characters using slang terms and pet names. The reader could still understand the flavor of the girls’ speech if half the “girls” and “girlies” were cut out of the text.

Another thing that doesn’t make sense to me is how willing Ruby’s parents are to let her brother terrorize her guests and ruin her party. No wonder she’s thinking about revenge - there isn’t any sort of fair discipline set up in her household to keep things in order. The parents both seem very involved and interested otherwise, so it doesn’t seem consistent that they just never discipline any of their kids. It obviously serves the plot well to have them ignore Ro’s behavior, but I don’t think it works in the greater context of their family.

My biggest complaint, I think, is that this book never let me dive in and forget that I was reading a book. The dialogue does not sound genuine, and that kept me from buying into the world of the story. That said, girls with older brothers will undoubtedly sympathize with Ruby’s brother-related plights, and this series brings some welcome diversity to the early chapter book format.

I received The Slumber Party Payback from a giveaway hosted by Biblio File last year.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

25 Eylül 2012 Salı

Top USA Baby Boy Middle Names 2012

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My sister and I have collected the birth details of more than 5000 boys born in the USA since the first day of January 2012. Based on that here are our top 30 middle names. All pssible variant spellings have been taken into account when calculating any names popularity.

1.)James
2.) Michael
3.) Alan
4.) Lee
5.) Joseph
6.) David
7.) Robert
8.) John
9.) Alexander
10.) Mathew
11.) Ryan
12.) Daniel
13.) William
14.) Christopher
15.) Parker
16.) Thomas
17.) Wayne
18.) Dean
19.) Ray
20.) Stephen
21.) Cole
22.) Louis
23.) Edward
24.) Gage
25.) Eugene
26.) Jay
27.) Reed
28.) Douglas
29.) Austin
30.) Anthony

Top Last Name First Names For Boys England 2012

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Based on my sister and I's collection of the name details of over 2000 baby boys born in England since the first day of January 2012, here is my top dozen. All possible variant spellings have been taken into account when calculating any name's popularity. For complete lists of all the last name first names for both boys and girls that we have recorded in the English Speaking world please see my other blog Unusual Names and do a search for last name first names.

1.) Riley
2.) Jenson
3.) Mason
4.) Harrison
5.) Tyler
6.) Harvey
7.) Elliott
8.) Ellis
9.) Taylor
10.) Jackson
11.) Leighton
12.) Oakley

Top Flower and Plant Names For Girls- England 2012

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My sister and I have collected the name details of over 2000 baby girls born in England since January 1st 2012. This list is based upon that research. All posssible variant spellings have been taken into account when calculating any name's popularity. For complete lists of all flower, tree and plant names that I have ever recorded in the English-speaking world please do a search on my other blog Unusual Names

1.) Lily
2.) May (the common name for hawthorn blossom.)
3.) Poppy
4.) Daisy
5.) Rose
6..) Holly
7.) Ivy
8.) Willow
9.) Flora (Latin for flower)
10.) Violet

This list applies to first names. If middle names only were counted May would be the most popular currently followed by Rose.

Ten Fun Facts About 2012 Baby Names In The USA

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According to my research.....

1.) When parents give their twin babies names that begin with the same letter they choose the letters B, K and L more often than any others.

2.) Half of all African-American babies in parts of the south have been given a name with a decorative apostrophe this year e.g Ar'iyah

3.) Babies born on Hawaii are five times more likely to be given a double first or double middle name than other Americans.

4.) Around 7 out of ten babies born in Hawaii have a Hawai'ian middle name regardless of their ethnic origin.

5.) Hispanic American parents are 6 times more likely to name their babies after themselves than other Americans.

6.) I have come across more totally new baby names beginning with A than any other letter.

7.) Search engine terms that bring people to this blog or my other blog Unusual Names show that parents searching for unusual names for baby boys outnumber those looking for unusual girl names by 3 to 1.

8.) The names with the most variant spellings recorded this year are Aiden for boys and Aaliyah for girls. Both have over 25 variants in use.

9.) In some areas 1 boy in every 4 has been given a name that rhymes with Aiden.

10.) Chinese Americans love the letters M R and L for their daughters.

Fastest Growing Unisex Baby Names USA 2012

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Based on my sister and I's collection of the name details of some 14,000 + babies born in the USA since the first day of January 2012. The names listed below have been chosen because a good amount of growth is noticeable in their use for both genders (percentage increase). For a list of the top unisex names in the USA already 2012 plwease see my previous post. My blog Unusual Names has various posts on all the unisex names we have recorded during years of research across the English-Speaking world.

1.) Parker
2.) Hunter
3.) Bentley
4.) Riley
5.) Cooper
6.) Dylan
7.) Finley
8.) Camdyn
9.) Danny
10.) Terry

23 Eylül 2012 Pazar

Top 50 Baby Girl Names England 2012

Based on my sister and I's collection of the birth details of hundreds of baby girls in England since January 1st 2012. All possible alternative spellings of each name have been taken into account when calculating it's popularity. This is the only way to show you how common a name will really sound yet official statistics and most other sources of name info fail to do this. For an alphabetical list of all baby girl names used in Great Britain 2012 at a frequency of 1 in 300 births or more often please see my other blog Unusual Names and search for Great Britain 2012. That info is updated monthly. Come back here early October for an English top 75.

1.) Lily
2.) May (thanks to it's huge amount of use in double first names)
3.) Poppy
4.) Jessica
5.) Ava
6.) Daisy
7.) Isla (it would not suprise me to see this as number 1 by this time next year)
8.) Sophia
9.) Florence
10.) Freya
11.) Rose (due largely to it's use in double first names)
12.) Olivia
13.) Isabella
14.) Evie
15.) Amelia
16.) Annabelle
17.) Matilda
18.) Grace
19.) Neve
20.) Phoebe
21.) Maisy
22.) Emily
23.) Amelie
24.) Mia
25.) Holly
26.) Evelyn
27.) Darcie
28.) Molly
29.) Amy
30.) Macey
31.) Elizabeth
32.) Gracie
33.) Lacey
34.) Scarlett
35.) Ella
36.) Emilia
37.) Sophia
38.) Leila
39.) Bethany
40.) Chloe
41.) Lola
42.) Jane (due entirely to it's use in double first names)
43.) Eva
44.) Imogen
45.) Rosie
46.) Lara
47.) Ruby
48.) Sienna
49.) Louise
50.) Lily-Mae

Top USA Baby Boy Middle Names 2012

My sister and I have collected the birth details of more than 5000 boys born in the USA since the first day of January 2012. Based on that here are our top 30 middle names. All pssible variant spellings have been taken into account when calculating any names popularity.

1.)James
2.) Michael
3.) Alan
4.) Lee
5.) Joseph
6.) David
7.) Robert
8.) John
9.) Alexander
10.) Mathew
11.) Ryan
12.) Daniel
13.) William
14.) Christopher
15.) Parker
16.) Thomas
17.) Wayne
18.) Dean
19.) Ray
20.) Stephen
21.) Cole
22.) Louis
23.) Edward
24.) Gage
25.) Eugene
26.) Jay
27.) Reed
28.) Douglas
29.) Austin
30.) Anthony

Top Last Name First Names For Boys England 2012

Based on my sister and I's collection of the name details of over 2000 baby boys born in England since the first day of January 2012, here is my top dozen. All possible variant spellings have been taken into account when calculating any name's popularity. For complete lists of all the last name first names for both boys and girls that we have recorded in the English Speaking world please see my other blog Unusual Names and do a search for last name first names.

1.) Riley
2.) Jenson
3.) Mason
4.) Harrison
5.) Tyler
6.) Harvey
7.) Elliott
8.) Ellis
9.) Taylor
10.) Jackson
11.) Leighton
12.) Oakley

Top Flower and Plant Names For Girls- England 2012

My sister and I have collected the name details of over 2000 baby girls born in England since January 1st 2012. This list is based upon that research. All posssible variant spellings have been taken into account when calculating any name's popularity. For complete lists of all flower, tree and plant names that I have ever recorded in the English-speaking world please do a search on my other blog Unusual Names

1.) Lily
2.) May (the common name for hawthorn blossom.)
3.) Poppy
4.) Daisy
5.) Rose
6..) Holly
7.) Ivy
8.) Willow
9.) Flora (Latin for flower)
10.) Violet

This list applies to first names. If middle names only were counted May would be the most popular currently followed by Rose.

Ten Fun Facts About 2012 Baby Names In The USA

According to my research.....

1.) When parents give their twin babies names that begin with the same letter they choose the letters B, K and L more often than any others.

2.) Half of all African-American babies in parts of the south have been given a name with a decorative apostrophe this year e.g Ar'iyah

3.) Babies born on Hawaii are five times more likely to be given a double first or double middle name than other Americans.

4.) Around 7 out of ten babies born in Hawaii have a Hawai'ian middle name regardless of their ethnic origin.

5.) Hispanic American parents are 6 times more likely to name their babies after themselves than other Americans.

6.) I have come across more totally new baby names beginning with A than any other letter.

7.) Search engine terms that bring people to this blog or my other blog Unusual Names show that parents searching for unusual names for baby boys outnumber those looking for unusual girl names by 3 to 1.

8.) The names with the most variant spellings recorded this year are Aiden for boys and Aaliyah for girls. Both have over 25 variants in use.

9.) In some areas 1 boy in every 4 has been given a name that rhymes with Aiden.

10.) Chinese Americans love the letters M R and L for their daughters.

Good names for "Irish" cats to be adopted on St. Patrick's Day?

Hi,

Our local animal shelter is having a St. Patrick's Day adoption celebration for cats. Do you have any good Irish names for cats? I know for people they say "Patty O'Furniture, etc. Thank you.|||Erin, Shannon, Siobhan, Fergus, Aislinn

O'Shea, Shaunessy, Killian, McDonough, and for any cat with whte feet: McMittens|||It you want the names to be really Irish, it's Paddy (not Patty) and Seamus (not Shamis)

Most Irish first names are crazy weird. Irish surnames are better. Here a list: http://www.namenerds.com/irish/last.html

I like Guinness.|||http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Drinkéˆ¥?/a>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Cat_Boéˆ¥?/a>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Laughs|||Claude O'Furniture might be more fitting lol. Some Irish names are: Murray, Seamus, Sean, Erin, Colleen and Tara.|||Lucky, Clover, Patrick|||Shamis|||a great name for an irish cat is paddy or shammy...............

Easy Reader Radar: Puppy Mudge Wants to Play by Cynthia Rylant

Puppy Mudge Wants to Play. by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Sucie Stevenson. 2006. Simon Spotlight. 32 pages. ISBN: 9781416915560

Last week, I mentioned that relationships between animals are often at the center of easy reader books. This week, I realize that I forgot about that other equally common relationship - a child and his or her pet. Puppy Mudge Wants to Play, which is another Pre-Level One Ready-to-Read book, shines the spotlight on the friendship between a boy, Henry, and his dog, Mudge, back when Mudge was a puppy. (Henry and Mudge, as you might know, is a popular Level 2 Easy Reader series, which also has a spin-off series entitled Annie and Snowball.)

Henry is trying to read, but Mudge wants attention, so he starts making mischief. He pulls at Henry’s socks, chews up his shoelaces, and even sits on Henry until finally, the boy gives in and plays a game with Mudge. This is basically the exact same plot as appears in Happy and Honey, but Cynthia Rylant tells her story in a slightly different way. In Happy and Honey, the young kitten’s excitement comes from her playful nature, whereas Mudge becomes restless because Henry is reading, something Mudge is not able to do. Since Henry is a human being who can speak, Rylant also includes some simple dialogue in her story, which gives the reader exposure to a different type of sentence, with its own rules and punctuation. Rylant also portrays her dog character as the playful one, while Honey the cat was the playful party in Happy and Honey.

For me, Puppy Mudge Wants to Play is kind of a middle of the road easy reader. It’s perfectly well-written and suits its intended audience, but it’s also kind of predictable and much less interesting or engaging than the parent series. This is partly because the original Henry and Mudge books are much longer and allow for more character development, but I also think the author is sort of relying on the reader’s familiarity with the other series as a means for understanding the relationship between Henry and his dog. That isn’t a problem for the adult reader who can easily read both series, but kids just starting out without all that context might not find a reason to get excited about either character based on just this story.

Still, though, kids with big brothers and sisters who have read Henry and Mudge books will be glad to have one they can read themselves, and dog lovers will fall in love with Mudge, either because they recognize his behavior in their own dogs, or wish they could have a dog just like him.

I borrowed Puppy Mudge Wants to Play from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

Review: I Don't Believe it, Archie! by Andrew Norriss

I Don’t Believe it, Archie! by Andrew Norriss, illustrated by Hannah Shaw. March 13, 2012. Random House. 128 pages. ISBN: 9780385752510

Every single day, no matter what, something absolutely unbelievable happens to Archie. In this book alone, which takes place over the span of just one week, Archie finds himself accused of killing a dog, glued to the door of the public library, and mistaken for a kidnapping victim. Though Archie often finds his hectic life a bit overwhelming, this week is different because he meets Cyd. As Archie’s new best friend, she is there for every strange occurrence and helps Archie get out of trouble and back home again.

The clever premise combined with truly entertaining storytelling make this book really shine. Each of Archie’s unlikely experiences is sillier than the last, and not one episode feels weaker than any other. They’re all laugh-out-loud funny and equally exciting and engaging. Each chapter ends with the same punchline - Archie comes home not having completed the task he was sent out to do, and his mother says, “I don’t believe it, Archie!” Even this repetitive joke is funny each time it is delivered; kids will find themselves anticipating the moment and, if the story is read aloud to them, chiming in on the refrain

What makes me love this book is not just the silly occurrences, but the fact that they all add up to something. At the end of the story, we see each of the previous chapters’ events come full circle, and Archie actually develops friendships with some of the people he’s met during the week. There’s a clear “what goes around comes around” type of message, but with a very positive connotation.

I Don’t Believe it Archie is a great title to suggest to fans of Mercy Watson, Dr. Seuss, and Louis Sachar. Crowding the Book Truck also recommends it to readers who like Amelia Bedelia, which is a great thought that hadn’t occurred to me!

I borrowed I Don't Believe it, Archie! from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

Old School Sunday: Sport by Louise Fitzhugh

Sport. by Louise Fitzhugh. 1979. Delacorte. 240 pages. ISBN: 9780440418184

Sport, one of Harriet M. Welch’s best friends, lives with his dad ,who is an excellent parent, though he is not wealthy or sophisticated like Sport’s mother. Early in the story, Sport’s grandfather passes away, leaving Sport a significant sum of money. This prompts his mother to become suddenly interested in her son’s well-being and she begins trying to gain custody of Sport in place of his dad. When she doesn’t get her way right off the bat, Sport finds himself kidnapped!

I had some reservations when I first decided to read Sport, because I knew it had been rejected by Louise Fitzhugh’s publisher in her lifetime, and was only published later on, after she died. (The full story on that is written up very nicely here, on a blog called Harriet the Spy: the Unauthorized Biography.) Still, I was curious about the differences between Sport and the two titles that were so well-received while Fitzhugh was alive - Harriet the Spy and The Long Secret. I have to say, I’m glad I took the chance, because of the three, this wound up being my favorite.

First and foremost, I found this book much easier to read than the other two. One of my frustrations with both Harriet the Spy and The Long Secret is the sophistication of the language, mostly because it distracts me from everything else about the stories. I could never get immersed in characters or plot in those earlier books because the language seemed to call so much attention to itself. This does not happen in Sport. Rather, this story feels like it comes from the point of view of a child, and even the atmosphere of New York City and the issues Sport has with his parents feel more relatable and contemporary.

The second thing I noticed about this book was that I actually felt some connection to Sport. I didn’t feel much of anything for Harriet or Mouse, but Sport got into my head and stayed there for a while. His struggles with adults and his confusion with sorting out the good adults from the bad ones are universal experiences, and I felt real sympathy for him as he went through those situations. I also liked seeing the diversity of his friends, and how cartoonish Harriet seems among them. In his own story, Sport becomes much more than the boy who doesn’t understand how to play town.

I do recognize, of course, that girls have loved Harriet and The Long Secret for at least three generations now, and I want to say that of course those books have merit. I just think they’re for a certain type of reader in a certain type of mood. Sport, on the other hand, is an easier read, more likely to interest boys, and focuses on issues kids still face today - perhaps even more than they did in the 1960s or 70s.

Sport is a great read-alike for books by E.L. Konigsburg and Madeleine L’Engle, who also tackle important real-life issues often against a New York City backdrop.

I borrowed Sport from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

22 Eylül 2012 Cumartesi

Good names for "Irish" cats to be adopted on St. Patrick's Day?

Review: Cordially Uninvited by Jennifer Roy

Cordially Uninvited. by Jennifer Roy. April 3, 2012. Simon & Schuster. 256 pages. ISBN: 9781442439207

Claire is thrilled that she gets to be a junior bridesmaid in her cousin, Belle’s wedding, especially since Belle is marrying the Prince of England! Once in London, however, Claire discovers that her cousin’s fairy tale romance might not be as perfect as it seems. The prince might not be prince charming, and another junior bridesmaid’s suspicious behavior makes Claire wonder if she’s trying to sabotage the wedding. And then there’s the cute British boy who gives Claire butterflies...

This book is the literary equivalent of cotton candy. It’s sweet, fun, light, and enjoyable. Girls who like romance, fairy tales, royalty, and European adventures will lose themselves in the delightfully romantic and almost magical world Jennifer Roy has created. Some readers might be annoyed by the intentionally misleading prologue which builds up more suspense than the end of the story really warrants. Others might be annoyed by the somewhat sudden and unrealistic reveal that ties up much of the mystery of the book in a particularly unbelievable scene. But I think almost all readers will love Claire, and Belle, and will swoon over the adorable Tristan, the boy on whom Claire develops a big crush. Claire’s sight-seeing tours are great for armchair travelers, and readers will love to hate Pandora, the junior bridesmaid so intent on bringing down the whole wedding ceremony.

Give this book to fans of the Wedding Planner’s Daughter series, and to girls who like the Princess Diaries. It’s a fluffy, entertaining story, and the ending practically begs for an equally cute sequel.

I borrowed Cordially Uninvited from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.