Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day
Reviewed By Grasshopper2 November 22, 2014
Author Judith Viorst
Distributor:
ISBN: 9781471122873
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date:
Website: http://www.simonandschuster.com.au
FaceBook:
YouTube:
Instagram:
X formally Twitter:
Originally released over forty years ago, this story has never lost its appeal or become dated. At that time, most children’s books told stories that were sweet or sometimes adventurous or classic tales and mostly uplifting. Maurice Sendak broke that mould with “Where the wild things are”!
Judith Viorst recognized that children see the injustices of life and that things are often NOT FAIR!
In this story she has written about a day in the life of Alexander and shows how small things like “Kissing on TV “ can spoil a boy’s watching. The story is simply told and simply stated
“Ï went to sleep with gum in my mouth and woke up with gum in my hair”. The implications are obvious to everyone! Through coincidence Alexander misses out on a window seat in the car, Mum forgets his desert in his lunch box, and he is told off for singing too loudly.
Because of the layout of this book with small amounts of print and large illustrations this story can be read to and by most children. Mostly children take this misadventure very seriously and there are many discussions that can arise from the tale.
The black and white cross hatching illustrations are very appealing and do not distract from the seriousness of the story. In this latest release Alexander’s character is in colour drawing attention to his terrible plight.
The story goes on to show just how many things can go wrong in the course of a day and to cap it all off, having to wear his railway pyjamas to bed. Hmm, he hates those!
A motion picture is being produced from the book and should be popular with the adults who remember reading it “again” and those who were read to.
As an adult one of the hardest things you can get a child to understand is that horrid things can just happen. Quite often no one is to blame and it is all part of growing and learning. Your best friend today could be your third best friend tomorrow. We wish Alexander a very happy day for tomorrow.