ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY

 Bibliography 

Viorst, Judith. 1972.ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY. Ill. By Ray Cruz. New York, NY: Aladdin. ISBN 0689711735.

Plot Summary 

The main character, Alexander, is a 12-year-old boy who is having a bad day. His day starts off with some gum stuck to his hair, tripping on his skateboard, and drops a sweater in a sink full of water. Then on the day before his 12th birthday party, another boy is having a party too and everyone is attending. The day keeps getting worse! He gets lima beans for dinner and there’s even kissing on TV. He can’t wait for this day to end. He repeats that he wants to live in Australia, because he thinks it would be a better place to live. His family doesn’t believe in bad days, so he wishes for them to feel what a bad day is like. At the end of the day, his mother gives him some comforting words of wisdom.

Critical Analysis 

The author writes this picture book using realistic events, setting and characters. The readers are left with the realization that everybody has terrible days and that they should appreciate the good things that do happen. The story is clear and dramatic and focuses on a self-centered child. Since there is no clear setting the author makes the reader feel that the story can actually happen anywhere and even to them. The book is intended for children ages 6-9, but anyone is able to relate to it and enjoy it.

 The illustrations are detailed in a way that readers can see the facial expressions of the characters and they are a very important part of the story. For example, when a reader struggles to read, he’ll look at the illustrations and have a better understanding of what the page was about.
 The illustrator, Ray Cruz uses black and white drawings with shading and varying texture to make the drawings realistic.

 This is such a hilarious book. The characters and events are so real that readers totally relate to the story. After reading this book to 2nd grade, we talked about being mad, sad, embarrassed, jealous, hurt, and disappointed. That's just how life is!

Review Excerpts

- “In this contemporary classic, veteran children’s author Viorst introduces us to Alexander, a kid with an unruly crop of hair, who gets out of bed to face day that seems to grow increasingly worse with each passing minute.”

 - Scholastic -2010 Picture Book Hall of Fame Inductee
 - ALA Notable Children's Books
 - George G. Stone Center Recognition Of Merit
 - Georgia Children's Book Award - Reading Rainbow Book

 Connections

-This book is also in Spanish!
Alexander Y El Día Terrible, Horrible, Espantoso, Horroroso. ISBN 0689713509 

- FORTUNATELY. ISBN 0689716605  by Remy Charlip is another one of those books that lends itself to game playing; unfortunately/fortunately.

 - Author Judith Viorst also has ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY ALEXANDER: THE COMPLETE STORIES. ISBN 0689817738, which has three classic stories about Alexander.

 - Some of Viorst’s other books for children about family, friends, and feelings include:

 - I’LL FIX ANTHONY. ISBN 0689712022. (a brother thinks of ways he will someday get revenge on his older brother)

 - ROSIE AND MICHAEL. ISBN 0689712723. (friends tell what they like about each other, even the bad things)

 - SUNDAY MORNING. ISBN 0689717024. (brothers)

 - SUPER-COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY THE MESSIEST. ISBN 0689829418. (sisters, one is perfect and the other is totally the messiest person)