Gaston® the Green-Nosed Alligator (Gaston the Alligator) - Tapa dura

"Rice is especially good with facial expressions, whether they are on a Texas jackrabbit, a longhorn steer, a dusty cowboy, or the green and long-nosed alligator named Gaston." --%iLibrary Journal%r

The classic tale of Christmas Eve in a bayou setting provided the theme of Cajun Night Before Christmas, one of the country's most widely acclaimed Christmas books. In that best-selling volume, the traditional jolly old St. Nick appears as a Cajun trapper dressed in muskrat and riding in a gift-laden pirogue pulled through the sky by eight charming, friendly alligators.
What led Santa Claus to move his workshop from the snowy North Pole to the moss-draped bayou country? Why were his faithful reindeer replaced by alligators? And how did he manage to assemble a team of flying alligators for his all-important Christmas journey?
In this delightful work, author-illustrator James Rice explains just how it happened. In the process, he creates another fascinating tale for youngsters and adults alike.
Gaston played a pivotal role in Cajun Night Before Christmas, the first book in the Night Before Christmas series. In turn, Gaston the Green-Nosed Alligator is the first book in another series that includes Gaston Goes to Mardi Gras and Gaston Goes to Texas. A coloring-book edition is also available from Pelican, as are a Gaston plush toy and audiocassette compilations of Cajun Night Before Christmas and Gaston the Green-Nosed Alligator.
Widely acclaimed as the South's leading illustrator of juvenile books, James Rice is the illustrator and/or author of over sixty titles, with almost two million copies in print. Rice was born on a farm in Coleman County, Texas, and currently resides in Hico, Texas. He has taught art at the grammar-school, high-school, and university levels and enjoys talking to schoolchildren across the country about writing and art.