- Alexander wakes up: the gum he was chewing on at night now stuck in his hair, his skateboard just lying in wait to trip him from the middle of the floor, and that pesky water in the sink nearly jumping out to get his sweater wet.
- He decides right then and there that it will be a terrible, horrible—well, you know—that kind of day.
- And it all gets confirmed at breakfast.
- How? His brothers get cool cereal box toys and Alexander gets squat.
- That's how.
- So our "hero" considers moving to Australia.
- Why Australia?
- Why not?
- That's why.
- It goes downhill from there.
- Alexander gets stuck with the middle seat between two girls. Yuck!
- He tries to speak up about the terrible injustice, but no one seems to hear him.
- His teacher doesn't appreciate his snarky excuse for not doing his work.
- He sings too loud, forgets numbers while counting, and gets in fights with his buddies.
- It's a that-kind of day. No doubt.
- So Alexander seriously considers Australia.
- Need more proof?
- You got it: no cupcakes for lunch; no chocolate bar; no jelly roll (and jelly rolls aren't even that exciting); a cavity found at the dentist (Australia's sounding pretty good about now); an injured foot; a muddy pair of pants; and a horrible pair of older brothers with no sympathy.
- The opposite, in fact. Alexanders brother, Nick, makes fun of him. How Rude!
- And of course, Mom comes back right when Alexander is giving Nick a (well-deserved?) punch.
- Alexander tries to tell Mom about his no good day, but she doesn't have an answer for him.
- A visit to the shoe store turns into a disappointing pair of boring white sneakers.
- A surprise trip to Dad's office turns into a big mess caused by you-know-who.
- And Alexander is "forced" to watch a very bad TV show with kissing. Kissing!
- The list goes on (still!): a scalding, soap-in-the-eyes, marble-down-the-drain bath time.
- Boring railroad pajamas.
- A burnt out night light.
- A cat that wants to sleep with Anthony (big bro number two).
- All this adds up to a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
- At the end, Alexander paraphrases Mom's "helpful" words.
- Some days are just like that, "even in Australia."