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Just Another Ordinary Day
Like most kids, Amanda gets dressed, goes to school, plays with friends, and eats dinner with her family. But don’t be fooled by this deceptively simple story—readers will soon find out that Amanda is no ordinary girl! Best-selling Australian artist Rod Clement has
created a wickedly funny picture book in which the artwork tells an extraordinary story of ‘just another ordinary day.’
created a wickedly funny picture book in which the artwork tells an extraordinary story of ‘just another ordinary day.’
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
August 17, 2020
As a child I loved reading about a character with my name. These illustrations are a bit odd, but very imaginative and really make the story.
August 14, 2026
Amelie (6 years old) loves this book!
April 2, 2019
I enjoyed reading this book and found creativity in the way Clement kind of told two different stories at the same time. The text is a simple story that explains Amanda's ordinary day but the illustrations tell us a completely different story, they are extravagant and contradict and are anything but ordinary. I thought it was interesting how he was able to make the illustrations and text so different but still go along with each other, I have not seen that very often. I enjoyed the full bleed illustrations that allowed me to feel apart of this everything but ordinary day that Clement portrayed for the reader.
September 13, 2012
This is one of my favorite picture books. I've read it to 100s of kids in the library, and they love it too. I teach in an international school, so this book is a great segue to talk about how your idea of ordinary might very different from someone else's.
December 6, 2022
This was one of my absolutely favourite books as a kid, I remember getting it for a birthday and rereading it so often.
I had to throw it out (from the roach infested bookshelf of doom) when I moved and I was so sad, so I was excited to find a copy at Salvos!
This one I think is gonna live on my bookshelf now to entertain little visitors when I move. Such a fun book, I love the diversity in the characters - how lovely to see different nose shapes and hair and stuff, especially in a book from the 90s. I love it.
I had to throw it out (from the roach infested bookshelf of doom) when I moved and I was so sad, so I was excited to find a copy at Salvos!
This one I think is gonna live on my bookshelf now to entertain little visitors when I move. Such a fun book, I love the diversity in the characters - how lovely to see different nose shapes and hair and stuff, especially in a book from the 90s. I love it.
January 23, 2025
By coincidence, we borrowed this from the library at the same time as we borrowed The Most Boring Book Ever, I wonder if this was Sanderson's inspiration.
September 18, 2025
What's not to like about this book? Love when the artwork tells a humorous story and the text sounds "normal." The incongruity between the two can't help but make students (and adults) reading it smile.
January 2, 2018
Just as original and creative as I remember from my childhood.
August 3, 2018
Good example of how illutration speaks independently from text.
September 2, 2018
One of the most outlandish days ever!
February 24, 2019
Cute story about how a kid imagines their day.
May 14, 2019
This book is a "hoot".
I used to read this at preschool story times, however, our system's copy has long since been deleted. I would love to have it back in our system...…..
I used to read this at preschool story times, however, our system's copy has long since been deleted. I would love to have it back in our system...…..
April 17, 2020
Hilariously funny and ALL about the pictures. Probably Clement's best work.
May 15, 2021
Fun and enjoyable in all the right ways.
January 25, 2022
If you just read the book and neglect the illustration in this one you're missing out!
December 14, 2024
The illustrations make this book..my kids love to look at them closely as most are into fantasy books these days, so they truly enjoy the fantasy aspect of this book! I love reading it to them, too!
May 21, 2026
O.M.G.!.
Wow this book has AMAZING illustrations. And they fit the text almost too perfectly. Great experience reading this one
Wow this book has AMAZING illustrations. And they fit the text almost too perfectly. Great experience reading this one
April 14, 2008
Clement's wonderfully clever, funny picture book contrasts the story of Amanda's 'ordinary' day with large, fully colored illustrations sure to make young readers laugh out loud."
CIP: "Amanda's ordinary day has her riding to school with a Tyrannosaurus rex, having lunch with an alien, sailing a pirate ship at [the] library, and riding home on an elephant."
SLJ (Starred review): "A laconic text tells of frizzy-haired Amanda's ordinary day while hilarious illustrations belie every word."
Kirkus: "Tongue so firmly in cheek that it may take a surgical procedure to get it out, an Australian cartoonist puts wild spins on the events of young Amanda's 'typical' day..."
CIP: "Amanda's ordinary day has her riding to school with a Tyrannosaurus rex, having lunch with an alien, sailing a pirate ship at [the] library, and riding home on an elephant."
SLJ (Starred review): "A laconic text tells of frizzy-haired Amanda's ordinary day while hilarious illustrations belie every word."
Kirkus: "Tongue so firmly in cheek that it may take a surgical procedure to get it out, an Australian cartoonist puts wild spins on the events of young Amanda's 'typical' day..."
October 17, 2014
This is a brilliant picture book by Rod Clement and worthy of being short listed by The Children's Book Council of Australia.
I was at Somerset Literary Festival several years ago and joined a session where Rod Clement was explaining his writing to the children. He read whet his daughter had told him about having an ordinary day, and how he was planning to make it into a book.
The illustrations are truly magical. Her ordinary day is quite extraordinary!
This is another treasured reading book for my grand daughters. Going to school with Mrs Ellsworth, the oldest person in the street, and a real dinosaur!
I was at Somerset Literary Festival several years ago and joined a session where Rod Clement was explaining his writing to the children. He read whet his daughter had told him about having an ordinary day, and how he was planning to make it into a book.
The illustrations are truly magical. Her ordinary day is quite extraordinary!
This is another treasured reading book for my grand daughters. Going to school with Mrs Ellsworth, the oldest person in the street, and a real dinosaur!
July 12, 2016
I loved that if you had just read the words of the book it would have sounded like any other normal day. It's in the beautiful art work on the pages that the normal day isn't quite that normal after all. The illustrations are really amazing and totally bring this children's book to life. I love all the aspects added to the book to make it just a bit different then a normal day for you and me. It shows kids that our normal isn't always the normal of everyone around us. It's important to know this especially in our world today. That differences don't have to divide us. They can make us grow closer together. :)
November 2, 2015
Amanda wakes up and goes through her "ordinary day". She wakes up, eats breakfast, goes to school, plays on the playground, and more. Every event she goes through during the day is full of imagination. Her alarm clock is a person striking a gong. When she eats breakfast she flies downstairs and eats a giant egg. A T-Rex drives her to school on her ordinary day. This book is full of adventure and shows how a child's imagination can make their day more enjoyable.
November 30, 2008
I loved this book, and so did my students. The pictures are creative, colorful, and exciting. They made for some small discussion while reading the book. The story is about a girl and her ordinary day, but the pictures show unordinary events. I used it for a sequence of events lesson, and it worked very well. It is a book that definately catches the attention of young readers.
January 25, 2011
I like the book overall. Fun, imaginitive ways an ordinary day might not be so. I think many children would enjoy the book. I like the pictures, too. It doesn't necessarily fit my UFO No Girls Allowed program, but still a possible read for some other future school-age storytime. I might skip the very last page though. I thought it didn't fit the rest of the book.
March 25, 2015
I enjoyed this book and thought it had a lot of humor/silliness in it that children of all ages could enjoy! I thought the characters were clever: Mrs. Ellsworth (who was as old as a dinosaur), Mr. Wilson (scientist who was a fly), etc. The illustrations were also very well done, and I appreciated the attention to detail. This is a great book that I would love to add to my classroom library.
April 27, 2011
Everything in this book is different than in a normal world. But to the main character of the story it is normal. This was a very cute book and since kids like dragons and lions for pets I would recommend this book.
January 15, 2015
Just Another Ordinary Day as Amanda is taught by the science teacher who is an insect, driven to school by a dinosaur, and watched as the librarian made disrespectful students walk the plank. Tiring? Yes. Typical? No.
June 9, 2009
Love the illustrations. Zander was smiling the whole time we were reading.
March 3, 2011
Such a cute children's book!
July 18, 2011
My dad ALWAYS Read this to me as a baby and i REALLY Love it!!!!!!! it is a book that i almost know by heart and cherish it with some of my favorite memories!!!!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews