Just Another Ordinary Day [Paperback]

Rod Clement (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1995

In this very ordinary day, an ordinary little girl goes about her life. She gets up and goes downstairs to breakfast, goes to school, plays with her friends, eats curry for dinner and reads afterwards. But she is so tired that her dad has to carry her up to bed. Seems simple? Well it isn't! Rod takes the straightforward text and blows it out outrageously. The curry is a little hot and so the table is on fore...the stairs are a cliff which has to be scaled...and a simple shower is a wonderful waterfall. Great humour and a play on perception.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Clement purposefully contrasts a bland text about Amanda's run-of-the-mill school day with large-scale drawings that reveal her schoolmate is an alien, her science teacher is a giant insect and her elderly neighbor is a Tyrannosaurus rex. In PW's words, "the deadpan visual gags are likely to earn strong laughs." Ages 3-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3. A clever, creative, and funny picture book from Australia. A laconic text tells of frizzy-haired Amanda's ordinary day while hilarious illustrations belie every word. Her alarm at 6:30 a.m. is a stout Oriental potentate striking a huge gong; she is driven to school by "the oldest person on the block," an elderly dinosaur in a dress; her science teacher is a huge, bug-eyed insect; "lunch from the cafeteria" consists of a banquet table with a butler dispensing immense hamburgers; her mother's off-road vehicle is an elephant. There's more inventive fun on every bold, double-page spread. Amanda, her family, and her schoolmates are unfazed by all these marvels, maintaining deadpan facial expressions at all times. The brightly colored artwork cleverly combines expressive, slightly caricatured humans with crisply realistic backgrounds and creatures.?Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Angus & Robertson Children's (December 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0207188394
• ISBN-13: 978-0207188398
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #987,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Woderful contrast of left- and right-brain perception!, January 31, 1999

By 

Caroline Lawrence "author of The Roman Myster... (London, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Just Another Ordinary Day (Paperback)

Read this book to your children without letting them see the pictures. Then read it to them again, and this time let them see! The very ordinary 'left-brain' logical text is accompanied by wild and wonderful imaginative 'right-brain' illustrations.

Great fun!

4.0 out of 5 stars Gem, September 24, 2008

By 

Backroads "Scatter-brained book fan" (Cache Valley, Utah) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Just Another Ordinary Day (Paperback)

Wow, what a clever approach to daily life! Even if this book supports itself mainly on the incredible illustrations, that is more than enough for a incredibly interesting day for the more normal among us.

The plot is simple--we go through a young girl's day with her, from getting up in the morning until bedtime. However, she does not live in the average world.

As the prior review suggests, the text has seemingly little to do with the illustrations; one could easily add completely different and infinitely more boring pictures to make it fit. But again, it's the illustrations that really get this story making it's magic.

My class loved it as much as I did.

4.0 out of 5 stars Just Another Extraordinary Day, March 20, 2003

By 

loce_the_wizard "loce_the_wizard" (Lilburn, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Just Another Ordinary Day (Library Binding)

Author and illustrator Rod Clement has crafted a charming, clever tale depicting the ordinary day in the life of young Amanda, who has to "endure" her daily grind of getting ready for and going to school, coming home, reading with her cat, and so on. Or so the very understated text would have you believing.

Mr. Clement pairs the seemingly mundane depiction of Amanda' routine with madcap illustrations that wildly play upon the notion of ordinariness. Her alarm clock is a fat, shirtless genie; she hitches a ride to school with her old neighbor (who happens to be a dinosaur); she bathes at the base of a waterfall with an elephant that happens to be the family's version of an SUV.

The vivid illustrations not only run counter to the blasé tone of the text, they also have subtle sublayers that may not be obvious during the first pass. His attention to facial expressions is also worth noting. I liked how Mr. Clements allows generous amounts of white space to surround the illustrations, something that makes the book seem visually cooler and uncluttered despite the many details (in contrast to fellow Australian author and illustrator Graeme Base, who packs more details onto a page than almost anyone).