CATALINA MAGDALENA HOOPENSTEINER WALLENDINER HOGAN LOGAN BOGAN WAS HER NAME

Arnold’s cartoon figures seem to explode across the pages with even more pop-eyed frenzy than usual in this rendition of the traditional camp song. Having done “very informal research,” he gives himself license to add some original lyrics, sending young Catalina, et al., dancing from basinet—“She had two holes in the bottom of her nose—One for her fingers . . . and one for her toes”—to wedding limo, with doting parents, friends, relatives, and a bemused beau swirling in her wake. He closes with a swatch of music, plus a list of variant monikers for the eponymous lass he’s encountered along the way. Like the recent remake of Alan Sherman’s Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah, illustrated by Jack E. Davis (p. 401), impossible to read without bursting into song—and maybe adding a few improvised lines. (Picture book. 6-8)