2013 - The One and Only Ivan

I decided to review “The One and Only Ivan,” by Katherine Applegate when I saw a Facebook post by my teacher friend, who had just finished reading it aloud to her 5th grade class. It sounded like a moving experience for her, and when I realized it was a Newbery Award book, I put it in the “Newbery Project,” and requested it from the library.

I’ve been doing a lot of digital books from the library, and while they don’t have the sensory advantages of paper and binding, their accessibility makes up for it. I had no idea of the length of the book. By touching the screen here and there, you can kind of figure that out, but I usually just start reading. I was really glad that the book was longer than I first thought and took the time to tell the story well. The characters were able to reveal themselves gradually, rather than the plot just zipping right along.

Ivan is a fully grown, mature silverback lowland gorilla. He is one of the star attractions of a cheesy little circus-mall at an interstate offramp. Ivan lives in a cage with a jungle scene painted on the back wall. And as he puts it, the waterfall doesn’t flow and the flowers don’t smell. Ivan is a survivor, and one way he survives is to put the best spin he can on his life circumstance. He refuses to refer to the enclosures as “cages.” They are “domains.”

Ivan’s neighbors, Stella the elephant, and Bob, the stray dog are like his family. Emily, the custodian’s daughter has a special relationship to Ivan because they are both artists. At night, Emily sits in front of his cage painting and drawing, and slipping crayons and sheets of paper through a hole in his glass wall.

But business isn’t going so well. Ivan isn’t a cute little gorilla anymore. Paying customers like baby animals. When Mack, the owner and operator of the circus-mall buys and brings back a baby elephant to boost sales, things begin to change for Ivan. He begins to remember events in his life that, for his survival, he’d had to set aside. And along the way, he makes a promise that seems impossible to fulfill.

The book has many many chapters. Some are longish, some are only one sentence. But these “chapters” are points of significance to Ivan, who tells the story. Some of them recount what’s happening in his daily life, some are memories or reflections or decisions.

I’d already come to the conclusion that it is wrong to keep as pets exotic animals who should be in their natural environment. And there is absolutely no ethical way to justify taking baby animals from the wild for the pet trade. “The One and Only Ivan” is a sensitive and well-written book to introduce children to that concept. 

Fun Fact: Katherine Applegate and her husband co-authored the enormously popular "Animorph" series books.