Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Written by: Judith Viorst
Illustrated by: Ray Cruz
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Grades: K-5
Awards: None

There is a little boy, Alexander, who does not start his morning with a great start and it ends up being a terrible, horrible, no good, and a very bad day for him. He slept while chewing gum the night before and had it all over his head in the morning, he trips and his sweater drops into the sink with running water in it, and his brothers receive prizes in their cereal boxes, but he didn't. Alexander concluded that life will probably be better in Australia. He got the middle seat while carpooling, his teacher liked his classmates painting more and displayed it, he is no longer Paul's number one best friend, but his third. Alexander still experiences a terrible day. He finds out that he has a cavity while at the dentist, he fell in mud while his brothers made fun but Alexander was the one that got caught and was punished instead. Alexander went shopping but they didn't have the pair he wanted in his size and had to get plain white sneakers, and while waiting to pick up his dad from work, Alexander played with the copy machine when he was not suppose to, knocked over books on his desk, and accidentally called "Australia" on his father's work phone. Back at home, Alexander's bath was too hot, got soap in his eyes, his night light burned out, and his cat went to sleep with his brother and not him. Overall, his day was terrible and not good at all, but his mother explained that it is okay to have days that are like that, and that even people in Australia experience terrible days as well.

This is a great book to have in classroom library. This book would be good for students in Kindergarten to fifth grade. I would have my students create a t-chart of 3 things that may have ruined their day and 3 things that made their day well and have them compare and contrast between the two.