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

Viorst, J. (1972).  Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  New York: Antheneum.

Have you ever had a bad day?  Haven't we all?  Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is an ALA Notable Children's Book and while it is written for ages 5-7, the book is one people of every age can associate with.  Poor Alexander is having a bad day and his day continues to get worse and worse instead of better.  He wakes up with gum in his hair, doesn't get a toy in his cereal, loses his best friend, gets a cavity, has to eat lima beans for dinner...

This realistic fiction book is a great example of situational realism because most if not all kids can relate to having a day when nothing seems to be going their way.  Viorst writes this book in 1st person point of view (Alexander).  Throughout the book, the general theme is that everyone has bad days.  When reading this book to your class or child, make sure to talk about this theme as well as their feelings about the theme.  This could be a great character education lesson.

Here are some discussion questions:
What people in the story made Alexander have a bad day?  What did they do to him?
Have you ever had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day?  How did you feel?
Why did Alexander want to go to Australia?  Why do you think he wanted to go there?  Where do you want to go when you are having a bad day?