Alicia Has a Bad Day

by Lisa Jahn-Clough

Overview

"The zany illustrations suit the amusingly outraged tone of the text. Funny and original." —Kirkus Reviews Bad days—we all have them. But what do we do about them?
Meet Alicia and her trusty friend, Neptune. Alicia is usually a cheerful child who likes to dance very fast and stand on her head. What will she do when she wakes one morning feeling miserable? At first, none of Alicia's clever and quirky remedies, such as moping in her favorite chair and writing in her notebook, seems to cure her gloom. Then in a place least expected, a delightful surprise awaits, and Alicia makes a joyous discovery.
Lisa Jahn-Clough has created a unique character with a spunky spirit all her own. Alicia will charm her way into the hearts of readers young and old on any day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547347530
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	08/26/2002
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
Lexile:	410L (what's this?)
File size:	15 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Lisa Jahn-Clough has written and illustrated many picture books for young children, including Alicia Has a Bad Day, My Friend and I, Missing Molly, and Simon and Molly Plus Hester. She is the author of the Green Light reader series Petal and Poppy and has published several young adult novels and a recent chapter book. She is associate professor of creative writing at Rowan University and also works as a mentor in the Hamline University Low-Residency MFA program in writing for children and young adults. You can find out more at lisajahnclough.com.

Editorial Reviews

"Deliberately childlike paintings put a comic edge on a terrible, rotten, very bad day," said PW. "Those of, shall we say, artistic temperaments may find a kindred spirit in this debut book's scowling narrator." Ages 4-8. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Deliberately childlike paintings put a comic edge on a terrible, rotten, very bad day. Those of, shall we say, artistic temperaments may find a kindred spirit in this debut book's scowling, yellow-haired narrator, Alicia, who wakes up one day in inexplicable misery. First she sulks around the house (``After I mope I lie on the floor and stare at the ceiling. The cracks make faces at me''), then she maliciously stomps on ants outdoors, where a gray cloud threatens to block out a frowning sun. Surrounded by a violent, slashy purple-and-black aura, Alicia writes the word ``lugubrious'' in her notebook (``Lugubrious is my favorite miserable word. It means dark and dreary''); young vocabulary enthusiasts will enjoy being handed a 50-cent word, the poor definition notwithstanding. Alicia's bleak humor, which lasts until her orange dog cheers her with a friendly lick, grows tedious, but Jahn-Clough's simplistic brushwork, roughly hewn in straight-from-the-tube colors, wryly conveys surliness. Spending time with Alicia might distract a moody reader from an impending tantrum, or simply serve as a reminder that everyone has bad days. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PreS-Gr 1-Alicia awakens to a very bad day and nothing she tries, such as playing loud music and dancing, stamping on ant hills, or moping, seems to help. Finally, she goes outside and is caught in a rain storm, whereupon she comes home and crawls under her bed, which is ``the darkest, dreariest place I know.'' It is there that her dog finds her and licks her face, making her feel better. The theme is an admirable one, but the execution isn't quite successful. The bright cartoon illustrations are childlike, but Alicia's activities and gloom lack the appeal of the situations and emotions that Alexander experienced in Judith Viorst's Alexander & the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Atheneum, 1972). Children may not understand the ``faces on the ceiling'' or the illustration of the little girl in a dark cave talking about it being ``dark and dreary in my heart.'' The book just doesn't quite catch the spirit of a child's bad day.-Margaret C. Howell, West Springfield Elementary School, VA

School Library Journal

"Deliberately childlike paintings put a comic edge on a terrible, rotten, very bad day. Those of, shall we say, artistic temperaments may find a kindred spirit in this debut book’s scowling narrator." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher