Skidompha Library's Owl Radio Podcasts

From the moment Alexander wakes up things just do not go his way. As he gets up, chewing gum that was in his mouth the night before winds up in his hair, he trips on his skateboard and drops his sweater into the sink while the water was running. At breakfast, his brothers, Anthony and Nick, reach into their cereal boxes and find amazing prizes, while he ends up with just cereal. Things go rapidly downhill from there. A running gag throughout the book is Alexander repeating several times that he wants to move to Australia because he thinks it's better there. It ends with his mother's assurance that everybody has bad days, even those who live there.[1] In the Australian and New Zealand versions, he wants to move to Timbuktu instead (presumably because he already lives in Australia). In 1990 the book was adapted into a 25-minute animated musical television special that aired on HBO in the United States. Illustrated by Ray Cruz. Read by Skidompha's summer librarian Dawn Greenleaf.