Review: 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: Aladdin. ISBN 0689711735

Plot Summary:

Alexander is having a bad day. Actually… it’s a little worse than that. It’s a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Everything that can go wrong, does; from getting gum in his hair and losing his best friend, to being forced to wear his hated railroad-train pajamas. As his mother explains, “some days are like that."

Critical Review:

How can you not love Alexander? His entire day has been a disaster since he got out of bed in the morning. Sure, the choice of an “invisible castle” as a subject in art class may have been ill-advised, and perhaps the presence of lima beans in the evening meal doesn’t truly qualify as catastrophic, but still...

Judith Viorst’s writing in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day practically begs to be read aloud. Alexander’s “voice” is one of the book’s main treats. Viorst has constructed long rambling sentences that beautifully capture the cadence of a breathless child trying to explain just how bad his day has been.

Ray Cruz’s illustrations are also distinctive. The textures he creates through shading are appealing and unique. His “vision” of Alexander is one readers will remember for years to come. Although the clothes, hairstyles, and Mrs. Dickens’ glasses may mark this as a product of the seventies, the scenarios will resonate with children of any decade. Bad days are universal.

Review Excerpts:

Viorst “can enter imaginatively into a child's difficulties without being either tactless or disablingly sympathetic” – Times Literary Supplement (November 23, 1973)

Judith Viorst flawlessly and humorously captures a child's testy temperament, rendering Alexander sympathetic rather than whiny. Our hero's gum-styled hair and peevish countenance are artfully depicted by Ray Cruz's illustrations. – Amazon.com Official Review

Connections:

Read other books by Judith Viorst (I had never read Alexander, but I remember My Mama Says There Aren’t Any Zombies… vividly. Some of the illustrations in that book scared me as a child – I remember them to this day – but I loved it just the same.)

Pair this with a nonfiction high-interest picture book about Australia.

Children can brainstorm other horrible things that could happen on a terrible, horrible, very bad day. Adult scribe could assist in bringing these together to form a new version of the book. Children could illustrate the different scenes. Each child could get a color copy.