Based upon a true story, this poignant children's novel relates the experiences of Ivan, a silverback gorilla who had lived for twenty-seven years in Based upon a true story, this poignant children's novel relates the experiences of Ivan, a silverback gorilla who had lived for twenty-seven years in a small cage, as an attraction at a shopping mall. Taken from his home in Africa as a youngster, Ivan had been raised for a time as a child substitute by a human couple, until he grew too difficult to handle, and wound up at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. Here, in the company of his friends Bob, a stray dog who called the mall home, and Stella, an elephant who was a prisoner like himself, he had grown used to a life in captivity. Then the mall owner (and Ivan's erstwhile human 'father') brought in a new animal, in the form of baby elephant Ruby, and everything began to change. Confronted with a young animal who was not at all used to captivity, Ivan suddenly saw his circumstances in a new light. When (view spoiler)[Stella died, leaving Ruby truly exposed and in danger (hide spoiler)] Ivan knew he had to do something...
My older sister, who is (unlike me) not a children's book aficionado, and who is not the sentimental sort to cry at the drop of a hat, happened to read this before I did, and informed me, a few years ago, that it had made her sob like a baby. I have been ducking reading The One and Only Ivan ever since, despite finding the story idea interesting, and I might still be procrastinating, if the recent Disney film based upon it hadn't given me the impetus to finally pick it up. It is a general rule with me, that if a book has been made into a film or television show, and it is something I might conceivably read in my lifetime, I must read it before watching the film. I'm glad that I finally did do so, and while I didn't have as strong a reaction as my sister, I found it a powerful, thought-provoking read. The best animal fiction can convince you that you are genuinely seeing the world through the eyes of another species, rather than through a human in animal skin, as it were, and Katherine Applegate's book does just that, offering a convincing snapshot of what a gorilla might think and feel, in Ivan's shoes. Such fiction also offers up a mirror to the human condition, and I appreciated the fact that Applegate avoided making any of her humans villains, even if some, like Mack, were deeply flawed and did bad things.
The One and Only Ivan was awarded the Newbery Medal in 2013, and it is indeed a beautifully-written book, with passages that stopped me in my tracks. When Ivan reflects that "anger is precious," something that requires energy, and is not to be wasted on everyday matters, it struck an answering chord with me. When he muses on the expressive nature of dogs' tails, which have "meanings within meanings, like human words," I smiled in recognition. And when he states that although human babies are ugly, "their eyes are like our babies' eyes. Too big for their faces, and for the world," I felt that shiver of recognition that comes, when gazing into the face of a stranger and suddenly feeling a sense of connection. I have seen this described as a novel in verse, but while the text is very sparse, with short, one or two-sentence paragraphs (if they can be called that), I did not read it that way. However one interprets the form, it is a lovely book, one which will have young readers thinking about how we humans treat our animal counterparts, and about what those animals, both wild and domesticated, need from us....more
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