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

by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Ray Cruz

“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Ray Cruz. Published by Simon and Schuster. A classic picture book about those days when everything seems to go wrong and you just feel like running away!

Alexander realised that it was a going to be a terrible day when he woke up with gum in his hair. He then tripped on the skateboard as he got up from bed. His misery did not end at that. Everything went wrong. He knew then that the day was not just going to be terrible but horrible and not good and very bad as well.

Be it home or school, everything seemed to be working against him. He started thinking that he must make a move to Australia where nothing would go wrong with him as per his belief. Well, is that even possible!? :D No one seemed to understand what he was going through. Things were working out against him even though he didn’t intend to do anything bad or wrong. To top it all, he was getting blamed for everything that wasn’t going well. Phew!

Does his terrible day end well? If not, does he at least realise that moving to Australia might not be the solution after all? Is it only him who has days like these? Does this happen to everyone as well? This is what the book is about. My seven year old loved the book and couldn’t stop grinning at Alexander’s expense of course!! We loved the black and white illustrations which captured Alexander’s expressions so well. This classic book is apt for children aged 6-9.