TEX THE COWBOY

Six chapters (with old-fashioned titles, e.g., ``Tex and Bad Hank) in the life of Tex, a hapless cowboy with a drooping mustache, and his horse Gloria. She's a Wild West version of a jalopy, and invariably saves the daywins the prize at a rodeo, saves a stagecoach, discovers treasureand helps Tex overcome his wily nemesis, Hank Bones the Bad. Garland (Billy and Belle, 1992, etc.) rounds up this comedic piece of work into a comic-book format, three rows of frames per page, with terse captions printed at the top of each frame, and goofy commentary coming from the small, funny characters in the watercolor-and-ink pictures. Parodic sketches of the Old West, with a cowhand's understated sense of humor. (Picture book. 7-10)