What is Welcome to Ordinary?

Ordinary is a town that is anything but. In Ordinary, up is down, down is up, and kids love their vegetables. The citizens of Ordinary live with the understanding that what makes them different is what unites them…until the Commons move to town.

The Commons are just an average family, but in Ordinary, they stick out like a sore thumb (at least for those in Ordinary who have thumbs). After befriending a talking walrus named Sigmund Waltrip, Ryan Common tries her best to fit in and feel comfortable in a town where the chief export is shadows and whose mayor is a jackalope.

Soon, however, Sigmund and Ryan find out that whether inside or outside the city limits of Ordinary, there is one universal truth: trouble is trouble everywhere.

Reading/Interest Level

Welcome to Ordinary is written for lower-level elementary school readers with an interest level for higher-level elementary school audiences.

"Some reluctant readers will gladly pick up a graphic novel over a typical novel and since the illustration supports the text, graphic novels also help encourage literacy."

- M. Mooney,
(2002). Graphic Novels: How They Can Work in Libraries. Book Report, 21(3), 18-19.