The One and Only Ivan

The One and Only Ivan

Author: Katherine Applegate

Illustrator: Patricia Castelao

Genre: Animal Fiction

Major Awards: Newbery Medal

Grade Level: 3-6

Summary: This book is about Ivan, a Silverback Gorilla, who was taken from his family at a very young age. He is kept at Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, owned by Mack. Ivan's best friends are Stella, an old elephant, and Bob, a "homeless" dog who sleeps on Ivan's belly each night. Stella, who used to be part of a traveling circus, hurt her foot and it never healed right. With the Big Top Mall not as well as it used to, Mack decided to bring in Ruby, a baby elephant. Soon after Ruby arrives, Stella passes away from an infection in her foot. Ivan promises he will save Ruby from the life that Stella had to live. Through the help of Julia, the janitor George's daughter, Ivan uses his art to free the animals. When Ivan first gets taken to the zoo (which he is happy about as it was his goal to get Ruby there), he is upset because he is kept by himself. The zookeeper, Maya, has him watch other gorillas on the TV each day, until one day she opened the blinds in his cage and he realized that the gorillas he was watching are the ones he will soon be living with. Maya also shows him footage of baby Ruby and how well she is doing. Ivan is finally accepted into his new family with Kinyani, one of the female gorillas becoming his love interest. At the end of the story, Julia and George come back to visit Ivan and Julia snuck in Bob, who will come to visit when George gets his new job at the zoo. 

Evaluation: I really enjoyed this book and the interesting viewpoint it took. It made me very emotional at parts and even more so when I realized at the end of the book that it is based on a true story. This is definitely a novel I want to have in my classroom.

This story is best for children who can already read fluently because the story line is more complicated than a small chapter book or a children's book. I think it is still good for young grades like third, however, because it has stopping points often along with a few pictures so the reader won't get too overwhelmed.

I think this book would be wonderful to read as a class and then research about the real story of Ivan. We could compare the book to what actually happened to him as well as use the discussion questions in the class to help fully understand the plot and characters.