![]() ![]() He had no idea that his mother had dreamed up a storyline in which his character would endure a litany of adversities - finding gum in his messy red hair, being served lima beans for dinner, not getting the shoes he wants - or that it would resonate with so many children and their parents. When his mother, Judith Viorst, conceived the book in the early 1970s, she had already written books featuring his older brothers, Anthony and Nicholas. “I was in the right place at the right time,” he said in an interview at his home in AU Park. Now a 47-year-old father of three who works in affordable-housing finance, Viorst sees the success of “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” as a welcome accident of fate. The real Alexander - Alex Viorst, who happens to live in Northwest Washington - finds the whole thing a kick. He has sold millions of books, including several sequels, and spawned a small cottage industry - a doll, a musical, an animated short film, and, on Friday, a Disney feature film starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner. ![]() Of all the great characters in children’s literature, only a select few achieve such fame that, like Madonna, they need only a first name: Eloise, Madeline, Ramona - and of course Alexander, he of the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. ![]()
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