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

Author: Judith Viorst

Illustrator: Ray Cruz 

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Grade Level: K-2

Alexander went to bed with gum in his mouth and woke up with it stuck in his hair. He got up and tripped on a skateboard and he could already tell that his day was going to be terrible. He didn't find anything in his breakfast cereal box while his siblings found really cool things in theirs. He thinks about moving to Australia. Everything that he did throughout the day was bad and he could tell that it was going to end up being a very bad day. There was lima beans for dinner and he hates lima beans!It turned out to be a very bad day just like he was expecting. His mom told him that some days are just going to be like that sometime... even in Australia. 

The illustrations are not colored they are black and white realistic drawings. The cover is colored but none of the pictures inside the book are. It shows the expressions of Alexander very well and help set the mood of the book. 

I can use this in the classroom to discuss feelings and how we each can go through bad days. It can also be used to expand vocabulary and can be used to compare and contrast to another book where children actually face hardships that are truly terrible.