ALEXANDER, WHO USED TO BE RICH LAST SUNDAY

Puncutated by brotherly insults and parental admonitions, the cent-by-cent chronicle of the loss of a fortune--as told by Alexander, who used to be rich last Sunday but bit by bit blew his dollar (a gift from visiting grandparents) on such trifles as bubble gum, bets, and an hour's rental of his friend's pet snake. As in Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day (1972), Cruz makes Alexander suitably rumpled and disgruntled, and overall his easy, contemporary style is a perfect match for Viorst's mildly wry domestic humor. But for our money the whole monologue is overextended as a book.