The One and Only Ivan: A Newbery Award Winner
The #1 New York Times bestselling and Newbery Award-winning novel The One and Only Ivan is now a major motion picture streaming on Disney+
This unforgettable novel from renowned author Katherine Applegate celebrates the transformative power of unexpected friendship. Inspired by the true story of a captive gorilla known as Ivan, this illustrated book is told from the point of view of Ivan himself.
Having spent twenty-seven years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes.
In the tradition of timeless stories like Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create an unforgettable story of friendship, art, and hope.
The One and Only Ivan features first-person narrative; author's use of literary devices (personification, imagery); and story elements (plot, character development, perspective).
This acclaimed middle grade novel is an excellent choice for tween readers in grades 5 to 8, for independent reading, homeschooling, and sharing in the classroom.
Plus don't miss The One and Only Bob, Katherine Applegate's return to the world of Ivan, Bob, and Ruby!
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Community Reviews
Chimpanzees terrify me. They intrigue me, but they absolutely terrify me. I don't trust them one bit.
Luckily this is a story about a gorilla. Gorillas are a different story.
There is something about their POWER that I admire.
Often, when visitors come to see me, they beat their hands against their puny chests, pretending to be me.
They pound away, soundless as the wet wings of a new butterfly.
The chest beating of a mad gorilla is not something you ever want to hear. Not even if you're wearing earplugs.
Not even if you're three miles away, wearing earplugs.
A real chest beating sends the whole jungle running, as if the sky has broken open, as if men with guns are near.
Ivan has several qualities I adore:
1) He also does not like chimps.
2) He's funny.
3) He's obervant and compassionate. When the two are combined, it's dynamite.
This is one of those children's books that the child will enjoy while the adult will sit in a puddle of tears thinking about friendship and animal cruelty and good people and how those animals must have felt sitting in such a small enclosure for such a long time. I understand that a zoo is still an enclosure, but he couldn't even recall the feeling of GRASS.
4 Stars
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