Judith Viorst ( ; ;Aarons, Leroy

''

People (magazine) ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the l ...

'', February 18, 1980 Vol. 13 No. 7. Accessed August 4, 2016. "Born in Maplewood, N.J., the daughter of an accountant and a mother 'who was a reader and a bridge player,' Judith Stahl started writing poetry at age 7." born February 2, 1931) is an American writer, newspaper journalist, and

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...

researcher. She is known for her humorous observational poetry and for her children's literature. This includes ''The Tenth Good Thing About Barney'' (about the death of a pet) and the ''Alexander'' series of short picture books, which includes ''

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are A ...

'' (1972), which has sold over two million copies. Viorst is a 1952 graduate of the Newark College of Arts and Sciences at

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

. In 1968, she signed the "

Writers and Editors War Tax Protest Tax resistance, the practice of refusing to pay taxes that are considered unjust, has probably existed ever since rulers began imposing taxes on their subjects. It has been suggested that tax resistance played a significant role in the collapse o ...

" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. In the latter part of the 1970s, after two decades of writing for children and adults, Viorst turned to the study of

Freudian psychology PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk the ...

. In 1981, she became a research graduate at Washington Psychoanalytic Institute after six years of study.

Early life

A native of

, Viorst was raised in

Maplewood, New Jersey Maplewood is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is an inner-ring suburban bedroom community of New York City in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's popula ...

, and attended

Columbia High School Columbia High School may refer to: *Columbia High School (Huntsville, Alabama) *Columbia High School (Georgia) *Columbia High School (Florida) *Columbia High School (Idaho) *Columbia High School (Illinois) *Columbia High School (Mississippi), a Mis ...

. A graduate of the class of 1948, she was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 1990.

Writing

Writing for children

Among Viorst's books for children is the "Alexander" series (including ''

''), whose narrator is a young boy who lives with his parents and two brothers, Anthony and Nick, who are named after Viorst's own three sons. Viorst's book ''Sad Underwear'' (published in 1995) is a collection of poems that examines a wide variety of feelings and experiences from a child's point of view. Her verses are accompanied by black and white illustrations by Richard Hull.

Writing for adults

Viorst's books for adults include nonfiction

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

books such as ''Grown-up Marriage'', ''Imperfect Control,'' and ''Necessary Losses''. She has written nine books of poetry including ''Unexpectedly Eighty and Other Adaptations'', ''When Did I Stop Being Twenty and Other Injustices: Selected Poems from Single to Mid-Life,'' and ''People and other Aggravations''. Viorst is also a newspaper columnist and has written frequently for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

,'' and has been a contributing editor to ''

Redbook ''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Communications, Hearst magazine division. It is one of the "Seven Sisters (magazines), Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publicatio ...

'' magazine. Viorst also penned the musical ''Love & Shrimp'' with Shelly Markam. The Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati hosted a performance of ''Love & Shrimp'', starring Deb Girdler, Pamela Myers and Shelley Bamberger, in the spring of 1999.

Personal life

Viorst lives in

Washington, D.C Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

. Her late husband, political writer

Milton Viorst Milton Viorst (February 18, 1930 – December 9, 2022) was an American journalist who wrote and reported on the Middle East, writing in a series of publications, most notably ''The New Yorker''. He wrote ten books over the course of his career. ...

, died of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

in 2022. They have three grown sons: Anthony, Nicholas, and Alexander; and seven grandchildren. Viorst received the 2011 Foremother Award for Lifetime Achievement from the National Research Center for Women & Families.

Selected works

* ''The Wonderful World of Science'', edited by Shirley Moore and Viorst (

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin Jr., Sidney B. K ...

, 1961) — science experiments and recreations"Wonderful world of science"
Library of Congress Catalog Record (LCC). Retrieved March 8, 2014. * ''Projects: Space'' ( Washington Square Books, 1962

* ''150 Science Experiments Step-by-step'', illus. Dennis Telesford (Bantam, 1963

* ''The Natural World: A guide to North American wildlife'' (Bantam, 1965

* ''The Village Square'', illus. Tom Ballenger (

Coward-McCann G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York (state), New York. Since 1996, it has been an Imprint (trade name), imprint of the Penguin Group. History The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 part ...

, 1966

* ''The Changing Earth'', illus. Feodor Rimsky (Bantam, 1967

* ''Sunday Morning: a story'', illus. Hilary Knight (illustrator), Hilary Knight (

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins, based in New York City. Founded in New York in 1817 by James Harper and his brother John, the company operated as J. & J. Harper until 1833, when ...

, 1968)

For children

* ''I'll Fix Anthony'', illus.

Arnold Lobel Arnold Stark Lobel (May 22, 1933 – December 4, 1987) was an American author of children's books, including the ''Frog and Toad'' series and '' Mouse Soup''. He wrote and illustrated these picture books as well as ''Fables'', a 1981 Caldecott Me ...

(1969), Harper & Row, * ''Try It Again, Sam: Safety When You Walk'', illus. Paul Galdone (1970) * ''My Mama Says there Aren't any Zombies, Ghosts, Vampires, Creatures, Demons, Monsters, Fiends, Goblins, or Things'', illus. Kay Chorao (1973) * ''The Tenth Good Thing About Barney'', illus. Erik Blegvad (1987) * ''The Good-bye Book'', illus. Kay Chorao (1988) * ''Super-Completely and Totally the Messiest'', illus. Robin Preiss Glasser (2001) * ''Just in Case'', illus. Diana Cain Bluthenthal (2006) * ''And Two Boys Booed'', illus. Sophie Blackall (2014)

''Poems for Children and Their Parents''

* ''If I Were in Charge of the World and Other Worries: Poems for Children and their Parents'', illus. Lynne Cherry (1981) * ''Sad Underwear and Other Complications: More Poems for Children and Their Parents'', illus. Richard Hull (1995)

''Alexander''

* ''

'', illustrated by Ray Cruz (1972), New York:

Atheneum Books Atheneum Books was a New York City publishing house established in 1959 by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., Simon Michael Bessie and Hiram Haydn. Simon & Schuster has owned Atheneum properties since it acquired Macmillan in 1994, and it created Atheneum ...

, * ''Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday'' illus. Ray Cruz (1977), Atheneum, * ''Alexander, Who Is Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move'' illus. Robin Preiss Glasser "in the style of Ray Cruz" (1995), Atheneum, * ''Alexander, Who's Trying His Best to Be the Best Boy Ever'' illus. Isidre Monés "in the style of Ray Cruz" (2014), Atheneum, Omnibus edition: ''Absolutely, Positively Alexander: The Complete Stories'' ;Related titles * ''Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: A Musical'' * ''Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days: An Almost Completely Honest Account of What Happened to Our Family When Our Youngest came to Live with Us for Three Months'' (2007) — an adult memoir of Judith Viorst and her real son, Alexander

''Lulu''

* ''Lulu and the Brontosaurus'', illus.

Lane Smith Walter Lane Smith III (April 29, 1936 – June 13, 2005) was an American actor. His well-known roles included newspaper editor Perry White in the ABC series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'', collaborator entrepreneur Nathan Bat ...

(2010), Atheneum, * ''Lulu Walks the Dogs'', illus. Lane Smith (2012), Atheneum, * ''Lulu's Mysterious Mission'', illus. Kevin Cornell (2014), Atheneum, * ''Lulu Is Getting a Sister'', illus. Kevin Cornell (2018), Atheneum,

For adults

* ''People and Other Aggravations'' (1971) * ''Yes, Married: A Saga of Love and Complaint'' (1972) * ''A Visit from St. Nicholas to a Liberated Household'' illustrated by Norman Green (1977) * ''Love and Guilt and the Meaning of Life, Etc.'' illustrated by John Alcorn (1979) * ''Necessary Losses: The Loves, Illusions, Dependencies, and Impossible Expectations That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Grow'' (1987) * ''Murdering Mr. Monti: A Merry Little Tale of Sex and Violence'' (1994) * ''Imperfect Control: Our Lifelong Struggles With Power and Surrender'' (1998) * ''You're Officially a Grown-up: The Graduate's Guide to Freedom, Responsibility, Happiness, and Personal Hygiene'' (1999) * ''Grown-Up Marriage: What We Know, Wish We Had Known, and Still Need to Know About Being Married'' (2003)

Age-related poetry series

* ''When Did I Stop Being 20 & Other Injustices: Selected Poems from Single to Mid-Life'', illus. John Alcorn (1987) * ''It's Hard to Be Hip Over 30 & Other Tragedies of Married Life'' (1968), New York: World Publ. Co.; reprinted by

Persephone Books ''Persephone Books'' is an independent publisher based in Bath, England. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone Books reprints works largely by women writers of the late 19th and 20th century, though a few books by men are included. Th ...

, 1999 * ''How Did I Get to Be 40 & Other Atrocities'' illus. John Alcorn (1976) * ''Forever 50 & Other Negotiations'', illus. John Alcorn (1989) * ''Suddenly 60 & Other Shocks of Later Life'', illus. Laurie Rosewald (2000) * ''I'm Too Young to Be 70 & Other Delusions'', illustrated by

Laura Gibson Laura Anne Gibson (born August 9, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter. She currently records for the U.S. independent label Barsuk Records, and the Berlin-based label City Slang. Gibson's most recent album ''Goners'' was released October 26, 20 ...

(2005) * ''Unexpectedly 80 & Other Adaptations'', illus. Laura Gibson (2010) * ''Nearing 90 And Other Comedies of Late Life'', illus. Laura Gibson (2019)

Dramatic adaptations

*''Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day'', a stage adaptation of the book, was performed at the B Street Theatre in 2004.B Street Theatre
/ref> *''

'', live-action film by Walt Disney Pictures, 2014. http://movies.disney.com/alexander-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day/

References

External links

Holt Books: Author biography
*

' profile at Persephone Books * on her education at Rutgers University and her subsequent career *

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Viorst, Judith 1931 births Living people American children's writers American psychology writers American tax resisters Primetime Emmy Award winners Writers from Washington, D.C. American columnists Rutgers University alumni American women columnists American women children's writers American women science writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers American children's poets Columbia High School (New Jersey) alumni Writers from Maplewood, New Jersey Writers from Newark, New Jersey American women non-fiction writers