Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
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| Author | Judith Viorst |
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| Illustrator | Ray Cruz |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's |
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Publication date
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June 16, 1972 |
| Pages | 32 |
| ISBN | |
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, published in 1972, is an ALA Notable Children's Book written by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Ray Cruz. It has also won a George G. Stone Center Recognition of Merit, a Georgia Children's Book Award, and is a Reading Rainbow book. Viorst followed this book up with two sequels, Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday , and Alexander, Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move .
From the moment Alexander wakes up, things just do not go his way. As he gets up, the chewing gum that was in his mouth the night before it ends up in his hair, he trips on the skateboard and drops his sweater in the sink while the water is running. Alexander found no prizes in his breakfast cereal at breakfast time.
In the carpool on the way to school, he doesn't get a window seat. At school, his teacher, Mrs. Dickens, discourages his picture of the invisible castle (which is actually just a blank sheet of paper), criticizes him for singing too loud, and publicly scolds him for skipping the number 16 at counting time. His best friends, Paul, Albert, and Philip, desert him for being their third best friend and there is no dessert in his lunch bag. The dentist tells him he has a cavity (and thus Alexander is the only one who had one) and he has to come back next week so it can be fixed; the elevator door closes on his foot; Anthony pushes him into a mud puddle; Nick says he is a crybaby; he punches Nick in response, and their mother punishes him for being muddy and fighting Nick.
At the shoe store, they're out of Alexander's choice of sneakers (blue ones with red stripes), so his mother has to buy him plain white ones, which he refuses to wear. At his father's office, he makes a mess of things when he fools around with everything there (the copying machine, the books, and the telephone), getting to the point where his dad tells the family not to pick him up anymore.
At home, they have lima beans for dinner (which he hates); there is kissing on TV (which he also hates); bathtime was bad for Alexander (the water being too hot, getting soap in his eyes, and his marble going down the drain); and he was forced to wear his railroad train pajamas (which he also hates). At bedtime, his night light burns out; he bites his tongue; Nick takes back a pillow he said he could keep; and the cat chooses to sleep with Anthony.
A running gag throughout the book is Alexander repeating several times that he wants to move to Australia because he thinks it's better there. It ends with his mother's assurance that everybody has bad days, even those who live there. In the Australian and New Zealand versions, he wants to move to Timbuktu instead (presumably because he already lives in Australia).
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