James Rice 
Gaston Goes to Texas 

A hurricane sweeps an alligator away from his Louisiana bayou home and off on an adventure in Texas in this colorful tale. Gaston the green-nosed alligator, the Deep South’s most celebrated children’s book character, is off on a new and exciting adventure, this time to the cowboy country of West Texas. First introduced in 1973 as the central figure in the perennial bestseller Cajun Night Before Christmas—which recounted Santa’s Christmas Eve flight through the bayou country—Gaston has delighted adults and youngsters alike in many other volumes. In this charming tale that will appeal to the young and the young at heart, Gaston’s native Louisiana swampland is struck by a terrific hurricane. The friendly, smiling denizen of the bayous is swept up by the wind, carried far away, and finally dropped onto the Texas plains amid a startled group of cowboys. Thus, Gaston begins his Western adventure, one that leads him through the tribulations facing a greenhorn cowboy determined to learn to ride broncos, tame mustangs, bulldog steers, and lasso and brand mavericks. Fetchingly decked out in his ten-gallon Stetson and cowboy boots, the alligator learns first-hand the difficult life of a cowboy on the range, but he adapts to the challenge, winning the respect and admiration of his fellow cowhands.