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Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallindiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name!-Tedd Arnold September 9, 2007

Things kids like: ice cream, McDonald’s, recess, other kids tripping, bikes, Disneyland, and a picture of a girl with her big toe in her nose. The toe one? Try, Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name by Tedd Arnold. Delightfully gross. Tune up your vocal chords; you’ll need to sing this one-Catalina is an old camp song snazzilly (Hey, if it isn’t a word, it should be.) updated by Mr. Arnold. CMHWHLB (Do you blame me?) is, well, here: “She had two holes in the bottom of her nose-One for her fingers…and one for her toes.” This book is page after page of rhyming fun. One of the teachers and I were discussing “quality literature” for children at school the other day and with Catalina, well, you’ll just have to decide for yourself. I like to think of this kind of book as akin to watching (What’s the name of that one my youngest likes so much? Oh, yes.) America’s Next Top Model or reading Harlequin’s or being hooked on Young and Restless when you’re a forty-five year old man. It’s all wonderfully fun, but best kept for private consumption. No, this is wrong: Catalina should be read and sung and talked about in both humble and those echo-y hallowed halls. Is there a moral or secretly disguised subplot for Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name? Probably not, unless it’s like my grandmother used to say, “There’s someone for everyone.” Oh, about my youngest-I really tried to raise her right. Oops.

Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name!
Written and Illlustrated by Tedd Arnold
Accelerated Reader RL 2.8

• Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name! at Amazon
• Tedd Arnold Web Page