Day Four
Thanks for stopping by, friends! If you visited earlier this week, you know that I’ve started a new blog series called Stuff That’s Great Good. The whole point is to share news and links to things that would mean something to Ivy Green and Paul Dobbs, the main characters of my book The Great Good Summer.
What’s In a Name?
So far I’ve shared stories of journeys — be they by bus or by spaceship — but today I found something that would’ve meant a lot to Ivy long before her mama disappeared, long before she set off on her own great good adventure.
One of Ivy’s old sorrows (we’ve all got them, I think) is that she wasn’t given a middle name when she was born. Her parents have their reasons, but that does nothing to assuage Ivy’s feelings of inadequacy and deficiency. She’s ached for a middle name her whole life, and spends part of The Great Good Summer looking for one.
And now, here comes someone called The Name Lady who agrees with her! Nothing like a good dose of validation to make a girl’s day.
It turns out that lots of folks have thoughts on middle names:
Here’s the BBC…
And the folks at Mental Floss…
And The Daily Mail…
Ivy would be so relieved to find out she’s not alone!
Share and Win!
Share or comment on any of my Stuff That’s Great Good posts, here or on twitter or facebook using the hashtag #greatgoodsummer, and you’ll be automatically entered into a weekly drawing for a free copy of the book and who knows what else? Some fun little Paul-and-Ivy related things! Good luck! And thanks….
My grandmother, Muriel Adams Stewart, wasn’t given a middle name at birth, although her older brother had one. She always felt ripped off, and for a while (as a young girl) chose “Dorcas” as her middle name and wrote it on her book covers in the early 1900s. She would know JUST how Ivy feels!
Dorcas!! I wonder how she chose that? Do you know? I love this story….