PLOT: This is about a little boy that starts off his
day by waking up with gum in his hair and as the morning unfolds it gets worse. His day ultimately progresses into a
terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.
Everything that can possibly go wrong goes wrong. By the time he gets to
school more unexpected situations occur that makes Alexander realize that his
day is doomed and he should move to Australia. His teacher didn’t like his
invisible castle picture, he sang to loud in music class and he skips the
number 16 during counting time. He also
has friction with his best friend Paul. Paul decides that he no longer wants Alexander
as a best friend. Lunch time gets worse; his mom forgot to pack him a dessert
while his other lunch buddies enjoyed their desserts. As school ends for Alexander
his mother takes him and his brothers to the dentist where they discover that
only Alexander has a cavity, not his brothers. As they are leaving the elevator
door smashes Alexander’s foot. As they
were waiting for their mom with the car his brother Anthony made Alexander fall
into the mud. The brothers begin to taunt
him and he tries to defend himself and begins to hit his brother Nick, but his
mom catches Alexander in the action and he gets scolded instead of his brothers.
You would think this poor kid has had enough but it continues when they go
shopping for sneakers, then they pick up his dad at his work, and when he is
forced to eat lima beans for dinner. Does it stop there? No. Alexander ends his terrible, horrible, no
good, very bad day with a hot bath and his railroad train pajamas, which he hates.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION:
Viorst, J. (1972). Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. New York, NY:
Scholastic Inc.
IMPRESSION OF THE BOOK: I loved this book because even kids can have
terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.
This is a great book to read to kids and adults because it allows the
reader to realize that everyone can have a bad day. There are two messages in this book one for a
child and one for an adult. Children can
relate to this book because maybe they have been in similar situations where
they have had really bad days. This book
can help them comprehend that bad days can occur to kids and that they are not “weird”
kids. The message for adults should be that
childhood problems can affect any age group. A childhood problem that is nonsense for an
adult can be extremely stressful to a child. Adults need to be a little bit
more mindful about the different types of problems a child can encounter
throughout the day. My favorite part of this book was where Alexander saw
kissing in the TV and he hates kissing.
Even though this book was written in the 1970’s boys that age still
react the same way. I have an 8 and a 5
year old and they react the same way about seeing a kissing scene on TV or in a
movie.
REVIEWS:
Publisher's Weekly - Objecting loudly
to his family's plans to relocate, the hero of Alexander and the Terrible,
Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day "makes a gratifying return," said PW.
Ages 5-8. Aug.
Publisher’s
Weekly [Review of the book Alexander
and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, by Judith
Viorst]. Retrieved from http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alexander-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day-judith-viorst/1100238460?ean=9780689711732
USE IN THE LIBRARY: This book could be used in a prediction lesson. The librarian could begin by reading the book and in different parts the librarian can ask the students to predict what could happen next
as Alexander is having a bad day. Also, as the librarian is reading the story the librarian should not show any pictures and have the
student draw a prediction of what the picture may
look like after reading a small part of the story.
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