Newbery Award: The One and Only Ivan
Author: Katherine Applegate
Genre: Fantasy
Genre: Fantasy
Major Awards: Newbery Medal 2013, Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee 2014, Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award Nominee 2015, Bluestem Book Award 2015, Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award Nominee 2015
Age Group: 9-11 years old
Ivan is a Gorilla, who lives at the Big Top Mall.The Big Top Mall is open 365 days a year and features shows at two, four, and seven. Customers can come to the mall, look at the animals, watch the shows and browse around the shops. Ivan stays in his domain and observes it all. Ivan has two really close friends; there's Stella the Elephant who's domain is right next to Ivan's, there's Bob the dog that wandered into the Bill Top Mall years ago and rested on Ivan's belly solidifying a life long friendship. Ivan is an artist, he loves to paint and draw. Some of his paintings even sell in gift shops near his domain "for $30, $35 with a frame". Ivan shares his love for art with Julia the daughter to the custodian and the Big Top Mall George. While George cleans the mall, Julia sits by Ivan's cage and passes him art supplies through a crack in his glass. Ivan always claims he has a terrible memory, but Stella has a wonderful memory. Whenever I can't sleep he and Bob ask Stella to tell them stories. The mall hasn't been doing great and less and less people coming makes the owner of the mall Mack very nervous. One day Bob hears that a new animal is coming to the Big Top. They all speculate what animal it could be, but Stella knows its going to be a baby elephant. A few days later just as Stella predicted the new arrival is a scared baby elephant named Ruby. From the moment she sees Ruby, Stella immediately becomes protective of her. Before Stella got to the Big Top she was mistreated and not properly taken care of to the point that her leg got infected. Although at the Big Top she was cared for, her leg never fully healed and still managed to get infected. At first when Ruby arrives, Ivan is a bit jealous, Stella is too busy taking car of Ruby to talk to Ivan, and even Julia sits in front of Ruby and Stella's domain instead to draw her. It isn't until one day Ruby is having trouble sleeping and doesn't want to wake Stella that she begins taking to Ivan. They tell jokes and talk about Ivan's art, and Ivan warms up to her. Stella's leg is getting worse and it gets harder and harder for her to walk. George and Julia, ask Mack to call the vet and he says he will in the morning. That night Stella wakes Ivan and asks him to promise that he will help Ruby to get out of the Big Top Mall, that he'll protect her. Although he has no idea how he will accomplish it, he promises his friend. That night Stella passed away. Since Stella was now gone, Mack immediately wanted to train Ruby to be in the ring and do tricks for the show. Ruby would be worked so hard everyday and after practice she would have nightmares and wouldn't be able to sleep. Stella always used to tell her stories to help her, but since she was no longer there she asked Ivan to tell her a story. Ivan always says he has a bad memory, but he saw how much Ruby needed a story and thought as hard as he could and actually began to remember his past. He remembered his family in the jungle, his twin sister tag, how his family was killed in the jungle and he and his sister were taken, how his sister died during travel, and how he ended up with Mack and his wife and eventually at the Big Top Mall. Ivan saw how tough Mack was being on Ruby and knew he had to get her out, but he didn't know how. It wasn't until Bob told him to believe in himself that Ivan came up with an idea to save Ruby. He used the only medium he knew, art and drew several small images that came together to display a picture of Ruby with other elephants and the word home. One night he enlisted the help of Julia and her dad George to decode the message. Once they decoded the message Julia and her father pasted Ivan's image on the billboard outside of the Big Top Mall. At first the sign brought more publicity to the mall which is the exact opposite of what Ivan wanted. Eventually the message was received, protest became to come outside with signs saying "free Ruby". The zoo took notice and did an investigation on the Big Top. At first Ivan believed only Ruby was leaving to the Zoo, but they actually came with a box to take Ivan and some of the other animals. Ivan wanted to take Bob, but he said he couldn't be tied down to one place. Ivan and Ruby arrived in the zoo and after some time were placed with animals just like them. Before Ivan joined the other gorillas, the zoo officials showed him a TV with a video of Ruby playing with other elephants in the zoo. He was happy that Ruby was safe and he kept his promise to Stella. In the end Julia and George visited Ivan with a surprise. Bob was now living with the family, everyone now had a home and everything was exactly the way it was supposed to be.
The One and Only Ivan is a beautiful story. The story takes you on a roller coaster of emotions, you'll laugh, cry, go through moments of sadness, and joy. This book would make a really nice addition to any 4th-6th grade library. Although the book doesn't specifically connect to a topic, it is a wonderful book for students to read independently and tells a moving story of friendship, loss, promises, and finding a forever home.
Age Group: 9-11 years old
Ivan is a Gorilla, who lives at the Big Top Mall.The Big Top Mall is open 365 days a year and features shows at two, four, and seven. Customers can come to the mall, look at the animals, watch the shows and browse around the shops. Ivan stays in his domain and observes it all. Ivan has two really close friends; there's Stella the Elephant who's domain is right next to Ivan's, there's Bob the dog that wandered into the Bill Top Mall years ago and rested on Ivan's belly solidifying a life long friendship. Ivan is an artist, he loves to paint and draw. Some of his paintings even sell in gift shops near his domain "for $30, $35 with a frame". Ivan shares his love for art with Julia the daughter to the custodian and the Big Top Mall George. While George cleans the mall, Julia sits by Ivan's cage and passes him art supplies through a crack in his glass. Ivan always claims he has a terrible memory, but Stella has a wonderful memory. Whenever I can't sleep he and Bob ask Stella to tell them stories. The mall hasn't been doing great and less and less people coming makes the owner of the mall Mack very nervous. One day Bob hears that a new animal is coming to the Big Top. They all speculate what animal it could be, but Stella knows its going to be a baby elephant. A few days later just as Stella predicted the new arrival is a scared baby elephant named Ruby. From the moment she sees Ruby, Stella immediately becomes protective of her. Before Stella got to the Big Top she was mistreated and not properly taken care of to the point that her leg got infected. Although at the Big Top she was cared for, her leg never fully healed and still managed to get infected. At first when Ruby arrives, Ivan is a bit jealous, Stella is too busy taking car of Ruby to talk to Ivan, and even Julia sits in front of Ruby and Stella's domain instead to draw her. It isn't until one day Ruby is having trouble sleeping and doesn't want to wake Stella that she begins taking to Ivan. They tell jokes and talk about Ivan's art, and Ivan warms up to her. Stella's leg is getting worse and it gets harder and harder for her to walk. George and Julia, ask Mack to call the vet and he says he will in the morning. That night Stella wakes Ivan and asks him to promise that he will help Ruby to get out of the Big Top Mall, that he'll protect her. Although he has no idea how he will accomplish it, he promises his friend. That night Stella passed away. Since Stella was now gone, Mack immediately wanted to train Ruby to be in the ring and do tricks for the show. Ruby would be worked so hard everyday and after practice she would have nightmares and wouldn't be able to sleep. Stella always used to tell her stories to help her, but since she was no longer there she asked Ivan to tell her a story. Ivan always says he has a bad memory, but he saw how much Ruby needed a story and thought as hard as he could and actually began to remember his past. He remembered his family in the jungle, his twin sister tag, how his family was killed in the jungle and he and his sister were taken, how his sister died during travel, and how he ended up with Mack and his wife and eventually at the Big Top Mall. Ivan saw how tough Mack was being on Ruby and knew he had to get her out, but he didn't know how. It wasn't until Bob told him to believe in himself that Ivan came up with an idea to save Ruby. He used the only medium he knew, art and drew several small images that came together to display a picture of Ruby with other elephants and the word home. One night he enlisted the help of Julia and her dad George to decode the message. Once they decoded the message Julia and her father pasted Ivan's image on the billboard outside of the Big Top Mall. At first the sign brought more publicity to the mall which is the exact opposite of what Ivan wanted. Eventually the message was received, protest became to come outside with signs saying "free Ruby". The zoo took notice and did an investigation on the Big Top. At first Ivan believed only Ruby was leaving to the Zoo, but they actually came with a box to take Ivan and some of the other animals. Ivan wanted to take Bob, but he said he couldn't be tied down to one place. Ivan and Ruby arrived in the zoo and after some time were placed with animals just like them. Before Ivan joined the other gorillas, the zoo officials showed him a TV with a video of Ruby playing with other elephants in the zoo. He was happy that Ruby was safe and he kept his promise to Stella. In the end Julia and George visited Ivan with a surprise. Bob was now living with the family, everyone now had a home and everything was exactly the way it was supposed to be.
The One and Only Ivan is a beautiful story. The story takes you on a roller coaster of emotions, you'll laugh, cry, go through moments of sadness, and joy. This book would make a really nice addition to any 4th-6th grade library. Although the book doesn't specifically connect to a topic, it is a wonderful book for students to read independently and tells a moving story of friendship, loss, promises, and finding a forever home.
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