Judith Viorst

Maybe there aren't any ghosts, but there definitely are things.

I guess the lack of realism in the drawings of the monsters is what made this not as scary to me as a child, and that monsters were not really what I worried about. The realism of the story and the humanizing of the mother are really good.

Message

Parents are human, too, but they really love you and want what's best for you.

Sometimes life hands you lemons.

Alexander's problems are real things that kids deal with, and mostly things that everybody deals with. Everybody has bad days, and it's something that kids could identify with and see that they're not alone. They'd be able to say, "I'm having a bad day just like Alexander."

Message

Everybody has bad days sometimes.