While browsing through a recent issue of The New Yorker magazine, I came across an article about the current generation of picture books and their bratty protagonists.  It was illustrated by an image from a book called Finn Throws a Fit. Aha, I thought, so juvenile authors are on top of current naming trends.  This impelled me to go running (figuratively) to my local Borders to seek further evidence.

　　One difference I noticed immediately was that there were more little human protagonists and fewer of the porcine (excluding Olivia), feline, canine, bovine, etc persuasion than there were in the past, and there were, as the article pointed out, a lot more angry children populating the pages, and a lot more preoccupation with poop and farts.

　　In terms of names, I was surprised to see that there was a book title containing almost every currently popular choice—almost as many as there are on the personalized pencils in the airport—a big upswing from the past.  Here are some titles all released since the turn of the century–and they’re just the tip of the iceberg!:

　　Girls

　　AVA and the Magic Tutu

　　CHLOE’S Snowy Day

　　CLEMENTINE

　　CONSTANCE and the Great Escape

　　ELIZA and the Dragonfly

　　HARRIET, You’ll Drive Me Wild

　　ISABEL’S Car Wash

　　My Name is Not ISABELLA

　　IVY and Bean

　　JUNIE B., First Grader

　　The Adventures of LAILA and MAYA

　　LILLY’s Big Day

　　Let’s Find LUCY

　　MAISY series

　　MERCY Watson series

　　Fancy NANCY series

　　OLIVIA

　　RUBY’S FALLING LEAVES

　　Silly SOPHIA

　　When SOPHIE Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry

　　TALLULAH in the Kitchen

　　I, TRIXIE

　　Goodnight, my sweet VIOLET

　　WILLA and the Wind, WILLA the Wonderful

　　WILLOW

　　ZOE‘s Tale, ZOE‘s Hats, ZOE and CHLOE on the Prowl

　　BOYS

　　AIDAN’S First Full Moon Circle

　　BARNABY Bear

　　BRAYDEN, BRAYDEN, Who Do You See?

　　COOPER‘S Lesson

　　DEWEY! There’s a Cat in the Library

　　DEXTER Gets Dressed

　　JAYDEN‘s Rescue

　　JULIUS, The Baby of the World

　　KYLE’s First Crush

　　LIAM Goes Poo in the Toilet

　　MILO series

　　MILTON’s Secret

　　OLIVER Who Would Not Sleep

　　OSCAR: The Big Adventure of a Little Sock Monkey

　　OTIS

　　OWEN

　　PHINEAS & Ferb series

　　Flat STANLEY series

　　WALTER the Farting Dog series