The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

 From Goodreads, 

"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."

Goodreads - The One and Only Ivan

Awards and Nominations:

• California Book Award for Juvenile - Gold (2012)
• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Middle Grade & Children's (2012)
• SCBWI Crystal Kite Member Choice Award for California/Hawaii (2013)
• Newbery Medal (2013)
• Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award for Grades 3-6 (2014)
• Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (2014)
• Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award Nominee (2015)
• Bluestem Book Award (2015)
• Oklahoma Sequoyah Award for Children (2015)
• Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award Nominee (2015)

I tend to jump on and off the reading list bandwagon.  I've been working on reading through multiple award-winning lists for a while now.  I figured it was time to jump back on for a book or two before I lead astray and read random books.  

The One and Only Ivan is told by a silverback gorilla named Ivan who lives at a mall right off of exit 8.  His best friends are an elephant named Stella, a wiry dog named Bob, and a girl and her dad who clean at night named Julia and George.  But one day a new animal arrives to hopefully become the star of the show.  A baby elephant named Ruby arrives.  Soon Ivan makes a vow to get her out of the big top mall by hopefully painting a sign asking for help.  

I absolutely love that this book is based on a true silverback who lived a very similar life to the Ivan in the book.  This book has an overall sad feel to it.  You can tell that Ivan isn't happy in his domain at the Big Top Mall.  He experienced tragedy very young when his twin sister died after they were captured.  I think the emotion in this book was such a big piece of the story.  After Stella dies Ivan is determined to get Ruby to the zoo so that she can be happy and safe.  Even when trying to get George and Julia to pay attention he had to be aggressive to get them to realize what all the paintings they had meant.  I find it so intriguing to read about animals who have emotions and feelings.  I've heard so many people say that animals don't have emotions or feelings, and I absolutely disagree.  This book is a great example, especially since it is based loosely on a true story. 

In August 2020 this book turned movie was released on Disney+.  I watched it and felt it was only fair to give a good review of it as well with this book review.  The movie and the book have very little in common.  Mack was portrayed in the book as being a terrible human who didn't care about his animals.  In the movie, Mack cared for them to an extent.  He never used the claw stick in the movie which was kind of a pivotal point in the book.  In the movie, the animals all made a grand escape to go live in the wild.  That never happened in the book.  While I was watching I was quite confused as to what was happening since it was a turning point in the movie.  The movie was cute and it was well put together, but the book was way better in my opinion.  

This is a wonderfully cute book that has a good story.  I'm excited to read the sequel to this book which is told by the wiry dog named Bob.  This would be a perfect read in a classroom.  Especially since students could go research the real Ivan and his story.  I give this 4 stars.