Skip to main content

THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN by Katherine Applegate



copyright date: 2012
primarily marketed for: young readers (3rd-5th grades)

“In cheering for Ivan and his friends, we cheer for our own humanity, and our own possibilities.  Read this.”
-Gary D. Schmidt

“This beautiful, life-affirming story will soar directly from Ivan’s heart into your own.”
-Kathi Appelt

“A Beautifully written, intelligent, and brave book.  Quite simply, this story is life changing.”
-Patricia MacLachlan

These are the quotes found on the back of this book.  Enough said, right?

Nope.

Even these powerful words don’t begin to explain how special this book is.  I want to purchase this book for everyone I know.  I believe this book is the new Charlotte’s Web.  It is that good.

The One and Only Ivan is the story of a gorilla who is kept in captivity at a highway-side mall/zoo.  His cage consists of glass walls, a jungle mural, and a cement floor.  Ivan’s story is based on the story of an actual gorilla, which just makes it all the more heart-wrenching to read.

The story is told in Ivan’s voice:
It’s hard to put into words.  Gorillas are not complainers.  We’re dreamers, poets, philosophers, nap takers.

Ivan’s main struggle comes from being kept in captivity.  Mostly, Ivan is able to accept the circumstances of his life.  He has friends that include an elephant named Stella, a stray dog named Bob, and young girl named Julia (the caretaker’s daughter). 

However, when a baby elephant is added as a new spectacle, Ivan and his friends start to look at examine their lives through new eyes. 

Although, Ivan wants to do something to change things, his options are limited.  A caged gorilla does not have many resources.  (Although neither did a certain pig and spider we all know and love…)

At times this book is desperately sad, but it is ultimately a book about finding strength in friendship, in stories, in words, and in humanity.  Read this book.
Labels:

Comments

  1. JessWizMarch 19, 2012 at 7:49 AM

    We really DO share a book brain! I just ordered this last week and am awaiting the arrival of my copy with even MORE anticipation since reading your review!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 19, 2012 at 11:34 PM

    I want to read it next!-Dalton

    (it took me a whileto figure out how to comet without having to sign up!)

    ReplyDelete
  3. KathieMarch 30, 2012 at 7:02 PM

    You said it was wonderful. I read it. I agreed. I told a kid. He's reading it. And so it goes...one kid, one book at a time, you are changing the world.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I HUNT KILLERS by Barry Lyga

copyright date: April 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (high school) I’m just going to put this out there:  I like books about death.  I didn’t know this about myself as a reader until my students this year pointed out how many of the books I booktalk (basically all of them) involve someone who died or someone who is dying. I am not sure if that is just a me thing, or if that is a common thread in books since it is such a major part of life and conflict.  I’d like to think it is the latter. At any rate, I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga , is obviously my kind of book—it is quality literature with sophisticated vocabulary, and it is about death.  Jasper Dent, known as Jazz, is a teenager who is struggling to overcome the odds, to say the least.  His father, Billy Cornelius Dent, is the most infamous serial killer, with victims totaling triple digits.  Since his father’s arrest, Jazz has had to care for his grandmother ...
2 comments
Read more

JAKE AND LILY by Jerry Spinelli

copyright date: May 2012 primarily marketed for: intermediate readers (8 and up) This is another book for younger readers.   So, although the time you spend actually reading Jake and Lily by Jerry Spinelli won’t be long, the time this story spends traveling around in your heart will be immeasurable. Spinelli is a master at getting straight to the heart of what keeps people from accepting one another: differences.   Through the story of young twins Jake and Lily, he tells a story of tolerance, acceptance, and ultimately friendship.   Jake and Lily have a very special relationship.   They are able to connect with one another through dreams and across distances.   In fact, as they write their stories for us in alternating chapters, they don’t even need to read to know what they other has written.   Conflict settles into their lives when growing up threatens to come between them.   As Jake begins to spend more time with a g...
3 comments
Read more

DR. BIRD’S ADVICE FOR SAD POETS by Evan Roskos

copyright date: March 2013 primarily marketed for: young adults (high school) Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos begins “I yawp…” and ends, “Yawp!”   And if that isn’t enough to love, the middle is filled with quotes from Walt Whitman scattered amongst wise words from a pigeon therapist, and a story that is both genuinely funny and heartachingly real.   It is one of those stories that seems as if it was written simply for my own delight, but perhaps you, too, will fall in love with it. James is a teenager who suffers from anxiety attacks and a depression that is possibly part of bipolar disorder, though no official diagnosis is named in the book.   His older sister was recently kicked out of the house by his emotionally detached parents after she is expelled from school for an outburst that resulted in a fight.   As a means of coping with his mental state and the instability in his home life, James invents a pigeon ...
2 comments
Read more