About This Book

In this contemporary classic, veteran children's author Viorst introduces us to Alexander, a kid with an unruly crop of hair, who gets out of bed to face a day that seems to grow increasingly worse with each passing minute. Indeed, on the very first page, Alexander wakes to hair full of gum, trips on his skateboard, and drops a sweater in a sink full of water.

At breakfast, his brothers are having a far better day — having found prizes in their breakfast cereal — which makes Alexander feel worse. School offers him no respite from his horrible day: he gets reprimanded by a teacher, he gets demoted to third best friend, and at lunch, finds himself dessertless. Could the day get worse?

After school, the dentist discovers a cavity, the elevator door closes on his foot, and at the shoe store, he has to buy plain white shoes (while both brothers get shoes with stripes!). Later, he gets lima beans for dinner and there's kissing on TV. Alexander can't wait for this day to end.