Just Another Ordinary Day

by Rod Clement

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.’

Genres: Picture Books, Fantasy, Childrens, Humor, School, Dinosaurs, Adventure

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Gabriella · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Becky B · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Jessica Larson · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Nat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as original and creative as I remember from my childhood.

[Annie MacPherson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good example of how illutration speaks independently from text.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most outlandish days ever!

[Nichole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story about how a kid imagines their day.

[Almira · Rating 5 out of 5]

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...…..

[Freddie D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilariously funny and ALL about the pictures. Probably Clement's best work.

[Jodie Hampson]

hi

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and enjoyable in all the right ways.

[Tara Engel · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you just read the book and neglect the illustration in this one you're missing out!

[Diana Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Bix · Rating 5 out of 5]

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..."

[Jill Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

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!

[Bree · Rating 4 out of 5]

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. :)

[Kandice Buck · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Alison Durbin · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Vanessa Woolverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the illustrations. Zander was smiling the whole time we were reading.

[Karijean31 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cute children's book!

[Missmoop · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!!!!

[Linda Ulleseit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful for teaching visualization in my upper grade classroom!

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

One girl's day is anything but ordinary in this imaginative picture book. Lots of laughs and a hit with the second grade.