The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (Book Review)

The One and Only Ivan

by Katherine Applegate

first published in 2012

Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.

Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.

Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it’s up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.

Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create Ivan’s unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art, and hope.

I read this book for the Newbery Challenge.  It won the Newbery award in 2013.  

When I first started it, I didn't know how I was ever going to get into it - as the dialogue was between Ivan, Stella and Bob - a gorilla, elephant and dog.  I thought it was going to be very childlike.  Well, I thought wrong.  

It wasn't long before I was genuinely interested in the well-being of these three friends.  They cared about one another and were really more family than friends.  This family expands when a baby elephant is brought into this strange zoo-in-a-mall.  Her name is Ruby and Stella takes her under her wing.  Unfortunately Stella is old and her health is failing.  She teaches Ruby as much as she can before she passes.  Ivan does promise her that he will make sure that Ruby does not stay at the mall forever like they have.  

With that promise on his mind and in his heart, he starts a campaign to try to get people to understand that they want to be outside with other animals like them.  He has been creating "art" that is sold at the mall for years, but now he starts to draw a bigger picture using many pieces of paper.  He hopes the young girl who always comes to visit him will be able to figure out what he is trying to say.  

I really enjoyed reading this book, and found it even more interesting when I discovered it was loosely patterned after a real gorilla named Ivan.  This gorilla also lived at a mall for twenty seven years before the public outcry that sent him to live at Zoo Atlanta with other primates.  There are some great themes here regarding friendship, bravery and cruelty to animals.  And yes, it does deal with death, but I think it handles it in a way that young children can handle.  

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Book Review)

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

by Elizabeth George Speare

first published in 1958

Kit Tyler is marked by suspicion and disapproval from the moment she arrives on the unfamiliar shores of colonial Connecticut in 1687.  Alone and desperate, she has been forced to leave her beloved home on the island of Barbados and join a family she has never met.  Kit's unconventional background and high-spirited ways immediately clash with the Puritanical lifestyle of her uncle's household, and despite her best efforts to adjust, it seems that Kit will never win the favor of those around her.

Torn between her quest for belonging and her desire to be true to herself, Kit struggles to survive in a hostile place, and just when it seems she must give up, she finds a kindred spirit.  But Kit's friendship with Hannah Tupper, believed by the colonists to be a witch, proves more taboo than she could have imagined and ultimately forces Kit to choose between her heart and her duty.

I chose this book to read as it is a Newbery Award winner.  I was pleasantly surprised how a book written in 1958 - about 1687 - still touched on many issues that can be found in today's society - prejudice, religious freedom/persecution, trying to find out where we fit in, love and loyalty.  Why is it that the more things change, the more they stay the same?  The persecution of the Quakers in 1687 - Jews in Hitler's Germany - and some would say Christians in America today. And I bet that everyone could name at least one person who had suffered prejudice in some way, shape or form.

Kit is targeted as being a witch on the ship over by a mean-spirited woman for the simple reasons that she can swim and read. Evidently if you don't "sink" in the water, it means you are a witch. Being raised in Barbados though, Kit grew up in the water and swimming was second nature to her. She was forced to leave Barbados though when her grandfather died and she was forced to sell off everything to pay his debts.

She makes her way to the home of her mother's sister, a woman she has never met, but to whom she has corresponded. They were not aware that she was coming for a visit, let alone an extended stay. But as she is family, they cannot turn her away.

Kit has a hard time fitting in her new family.  Her clothes are more flamboyant than the Puritan community where she now finds herself.  She has no work ethic as she had been allowed to run free on the island until her grandfather died.  She feels she is working from sun up to sun down and is still a burden on the family.  With what free time she does have, she finds herself in a nearby meadow befriending an old woman, Widow Tupper.  Because she is a Quaker, the townspeople believe she is a witch and avoid her at all costs.  She also has garnered the unwanted attention of a local boy, William, who seems to have set his sights on her as his future wife.

Whew, how much can a teenage girl handle in just a few months?  I really enjoyed the final conflict in the book and how loyalties are shown and love is offered. I am glad that I chose this book for my first Newbery Medal Winner to read.