In 1979 I was helping friends who were having a birthday party for their daughter Kristen and I wanted to give Kristen a present.
Kristen had told me that her mom was going to have a baby; so I made up a story how Kristen’s mom and dad made a mistake and went to the zoo instead of the hospital, and brought home a baby alligator.
Kristen liked the story so much that she wrote it down and drew pictures to make it into her own little book. She still has the book that she made – even though she is now 23.
When I tracked her down to ask her if she still wanted to be the kid in Alligator Baby she showed it to me. And she still did want to be the kid in the book even though she is not a kid anymore.
So in 1997 Kristen got Alligator Baby for her birthday all over again, only this time it was a real published book.
