Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Alexander narrates the story of having a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day. From the moment Alexander woke up, he noticed the bubble gum that was in his mouth when he fell asleep had now gotten stuck in his hair. Then, when he got out of bed, he tripped on his skateboard. In the bathroom, he accidentally dropped his favorite sweater and it ended up in the sink while the water was on. So he could tell that it was going to be a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day".

At breakfast, his brothers, Anthony and Nick, find prizes in their breakfast cereal boxes. But while Anthony and Nick have cool toys, Alexander only finds cereal in his box and no prize at all. Alexander resolves that he is going to move away to Australia.

In the carpool on the way to school, Alexander has to sit in the middle between two other kids in the back. He complains about how uncomfortable he is and that he will get carsick unless he gets to sit at the window, but no one listens. At school, his teacher Mrs. Dickens disqualifies Alexander's picture of an invisible castle (which is actually just a blank sheet of paper) preferring Paul's picture of a sailboat. At singing time, she claims that Alexander sang too loud. Then at counting time, Alexander forgets to count “16” when the class is counting from 1 to 20. When Mrs. Dickens tells him this he retorts that no one needs "16" and again laments how bad his day is.

But the problems have still only begun. At recess, he learns that he is no longer Paul’s best friend. Paul has decided to choose Phillip as his first best friend and Albert his second best while Alexander has been brought down to third best. Alexander's response is that he hopes that Paul sits on a tack and also that the next time when he gets an ice cream cone, the ice cream will fall off and land somewhere in Australia. Then at lunchtime, all four close friends have desserts in their lunch sack, except for Alexander. Respectively, there are two cupcakes for Phillip’s dessert, a Hershey bar with almonds for Albert, and Paul has a jelly roll with coconut sprinkles. But since Alexander's mother forgot to put in dessert, there is no dessert with his lunch. Once again, Alexander laments having a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day".

After school, Alexander's mother takes him and his brothers to the dentist. At the appointment, the dentist, Dr. Fields finds Alexander is the only one with a cavity. Dr. Fields announces that he will call Alexander in next Thursday and fix it. To which Alexander repeats his plan about moving to Australia for good. Alexander then recalls other bad things on the way back to the car. First the elevator door closed on his foot and outside Anthony pushed Alexander into a mud puddle. Then, as Alexander cried, Nick called him a "cry baby". Finally, when Alexander started hitting his brother for calling him names, his mother scolded him for getting dirty and starting a fight.

At the shoe store, Alexander wants blue sneakers with red stripes, but they are sold out. His mother buys him plain white shoes, which are the only shoes available in his size. Alexander states that the store may sell them to him but he refuses to wear them. When his family comes to pick up his father at the office, Alexander gets in trouble for making a mess and playing with the following things in the office: the copy machine, the stack of books, and the telephone (which he wanted to use to call Australia). This culminates in the father asking the family not to pick him up anymore.

That night, the family has lima beans for dinner which Alexander hates; he also hates seeing kissing on TV. During Alexander's bath, the water is too hot, he gets soap in his eyes, his marble gets lost in the drain, and then he has to wear his "railroad-train" pajamas which he hates as well. Lastly at bedtime, his nightlight burns out, he bites his tongue, Nick has taken back a pillow he said Alexander could keep and the cat decides not to sleep with Alexander, but with Anthony.

The running gag throughout the book is Alexander saying that he wants to move to Australia because he thinks it is better there.[6] His mother reassures him that everybody has bad days, even those who live there.[6] While the United States version of this book has Alexander say he wants to move to Australia, the Australia and New Zealand versions has him say he wants to move to Timbuktu instead.

On Saturday, September 15, 1990, the book was adapted into a 30-minute animated musical television special that was produced by Klasky Csupo and aired on HBO in the United States.

While the special is mostly true to the book, the following differences are:

• Aside from the running gag of Alexander making references to Australia, there is another in the special: he searches everywhere for his favorite yo-yo, a purple glow-in-the-dark one.
• Alexander has red hair instead of orange.
• Dad has no mustache (as if he had shaved in the morning) and has brown hair instead of blonde.
• Anthony and Nick’s hair colors, blonde and brown, have switched places.
• Nick wears glasses.
• Mom does not wear a bandanna.
• The cat's name (who wants to sleep with Anthony instead of Alexander) is not mentioned in the book. However, in the television special, the cat's name is Timothy.
• Phillip Parker and Albert Moyo's skin colors, black and white, have switched places.
• Audrey is replaced with Margaret.
• Anthony and Nick join the car ride.
• Instead of Anthony deliberately pushing Alexander in the mud like in the book, Anthony and Nick lunge out at Alexander, laugh at him, and mimic his pain (by hopping on one foot). Also, Alexander accidentally bumps into Anthony, loses his balance, and falls.
• The Mickey Mouse night light is replaced with a lamplight, to avoid copyright conflicts with Disney.

This special features 12 more bad things for Alexander:

• He opens a drawer too far, making it land on his right foot.
• He spills cereal on the floor while searching for a free prize.
• The kids laugh when he complains about not being given enough space in the car.
• He falls off of the seat when the car arrives at his school.
• His friends will not let him play Monkey in the Middle.
• He sings "roll" and "Mary Lee" (instead of "row" and "merrily") while he sings the song "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". The teacher (Mrs. Dickens) corrects him afterward.
• His friends tease him multiple times when he pretends to draw a picture, sings his song loudly and incorrectly, and forgets to count the number "16" at counting time.
• His friends close the doors on him after school.
• He is forced by the dentist, Dr. Fields, to sit still for 30 seconds after messing around with the toothpaste, dental chair, and tray.
• Before Alexander falls into the mud puddle, cries because of the mud, and Nick calls Alexander a cry baby, Alexander's brothers laugh his pain and pretend to be in pain (imitating Alexander) when Alexander hops on one foot since the elevator door closed on his foot (his brothers as a practical joke made the elevator door close on Alexander's foot).
• The shoe salesman turns down his alternate choice of sneakers (green ones).
• Alexander is forced by his father to sit on the couch until he gets him as a time-out for playing with his father's copy machine and knocking the books off his desk.

The special also includes 4 good things to show the audience that even a bad day can have some positives in it:

• Alexander's friends kindly ask him if he wants to play ball with them before he tells them he cannot due to a dentist appointment.
• Anthony and Nick make up for what they did to Alexander while waiting for their mom to pick up the car.
• Mom finds Alexander's favorite yo-yo in the closet while turning off the bedroom light.
• Before the end credits, Timothy (the cat) changes his mind and sleeps with Alexander while talking about how Mom says everybody has bad days, even in Australia.

Although mentioned, the three following bad things are not shown in the special:

• The family has lima beans for dinner.
• Alexander watching kissing on TV.
• Alexander's bath making the evening worse.

The special also included three original songs:

• "So much to do, so little time in the morning"
• "If I could be the only child"
• "I've had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day"

In 1998, Viorst and the Kennedy Center joined together to turn the book into a musical production.[6][7] Charles Strouse wrote the music, Viorst wrote the script and lyrics, and the musical score was composed by Shelly Markham.[7] The productions have been performed around the country.[6][8]

Other characters in it are Audrey, Becky, and many others.

In 2004, a stage adaptation was run at the B Street Theatre.

A Disney live-action film adaptation was released in 2014 and another version is being developed for Disney+.[9]

Alexander and his two older brothers, Anthony and Nick, are based on Viorst's own three sons of the same names. But the film changed Nick to Emily, replacing the brother with a sister, and adds Trevor as well.[10]

The phrase "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad . . ." has become an Internet meme, often used by bloggers, and sometimes by mainstream media, to criticize, or characterize setbacks for, an individual or political movement.[11][12][13]