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BOUNTIFUL — Students at Adelaide Elementary School knew that the book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" starts with gum in the hair and tripping on a skateboard.
They knew those mishaps begin the new movie adaptation, since they saw a preview of the film.
What they didn't know was that "Alexander" actor Ed Oxenbould would walk onto the stage of their cafeteria.
He and "Alexander" director Miguel Arteta were in Utah Friday promoting the film.
"I hear this is a great place for family movies, so we thought it would be great to promote it here," Arteta said.
"It was awesome, because I didn't expect for it to be that amazing," said Garrett Pitcher, a student at Adelaide Elementary.
He and other students at Adelaide take part in KSL's Read Today Americorps tutoring program. Read Today hosted a reading assembly leading up to the big surprise.
Most of the students overwhelmingly approved of the beloved book-turned-movie.
Student Julianna Stanger said, "I liked the book, so I was excited when the movie came out. They extended the topic way more than the book did."
Lily Vanderlin added, "I think it was really cool, because it wasn't the same, but they made it way funner."
After taking students' questions, Oxenbould revealed he is an "incredibly fast reader."
"I love creating the image in your mind," he said. "And I like to hear from my friends their images in their minds."
Students felt encouraged and starstruck. What started as a focus on a "no good day" turned out to be a very exciting one.
