Alexander and the (Finally) Good Day: Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days by Judith Viorst

In 1972 Judith Viorst published a little picture book with one of the longest and most memorable titles in modern children's literature. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, in which Viorst's youngest son Alexander starts the day with bubble gum in his hair and goes downhill from there, was the book which gave literature a new catch phrase which is still in use.

Viorst's newest book is her "Almost Completely Honest Account" of the ninety or so days the "Alexander Five,"--son Alexander, now forty, wife Marla, daughter Olivia (five and one-quarter years, by her count), and sons Isaac, not quite two, and Toby, four months--moved into Alexander's old quarters in the oh-so-adult parental homeplace while their own renovation was under way. Multigenerational families under one roof have had a minor rebirth in the past few years, for a variety of reasons, and Viorst documents in her own frank and funny style the stresses and joys of that time with her youngest son's young family.

Viorst, a self-confessed neatnik, control freak, and schedule slave, set a few ground rules, sometimes honored in the breech: 1) NO Play-dough, paints, or glue, and 2) NO eating on the velvet-upholstered furniture. Suffice it to say that sippy cups and enough graham and goldfish crackers to attract a mice infestation soon appeared outside her designated eating areas. Viorst and husband Milton said farewell to quiet, spill-less adult dinners and struggled with safety belt clasps on everything (she predicts her grandkids will be riding in booster seats 'til they're 20). Judith was driven to wonder what ever happened to those good old playpens that allowed parents to go the bathroom without a baby on the hip. She even confesses to a fleeting wish for a "baby gate to restrain the whole family."

Still, as the (even longer) title of this Alexander book ( Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days: An Almost Completely Honest Account) proves, it was a great time in her family's history, in which her love and admiration for her son and his amazing family grew. Some unforgettable memories were made, not just for the fond grandparents and grateful parents, but also for the children, who someday will know that their Grandmother Juju was someone pretty special, too.

In addition to her funny and insightful Alexander books, Judith Viorst is the author of books about her other sons, Anthony and Nicholas, and noted picture books such as The Good-bye Bookand Super-Completely and Totally the Messiest. She is the much appreciated compiler of that staple of the school library, 150 Science Experiments Step-by-Step, and has written honestly and humorously about her own progress through the decades, from When Did I Stop Being Twenty? to I'm Too Young to Be Seventy: And Other Delusions).

Judith, the notorious Alexander, and all the Viorsts deserve plenty of good days together and our thanks for sharing a few of them with her readers.