The One and Only Ivan

Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan is a tender, funny animal tale for 9 year olds told by a gorilla who lives in a shopping mall.

What happens

Ivan is a silverback. His home, his "domain", is a glass box at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, beside a creaky carousel and a lot of soft pretzels. He's been there for nine thousand eight hundred and fifty-five days. Alone.

He doesn't complain, though. He watches TV, eats a LOT and draws with crayons (and sometimes eats the crayons). His pictures sell in the gift shop. Mostly they're bananas.

His friends are Stella, a wise old elephant with a bad foot, and Bob, a stray dog who sleeps on Ivan's tummy. Then a baby elephant called Ruby arrives in the back of a truck, and things start to shift.

The chapters are tiny, often just a few lines, and Ivan's voice is slow and gentle and very funny. "I am never angry," he tells you. Humans, he notices, build waterfalls without water and are "lousy hunters". You may find your reader looking at zoos and circus posters a little differently afterwards.

Julia, the cleaner's daughter, is a lovely part of it too. She's ten, she draws wild, dreamy pictures and she always chooses to sit by Ivan's glass.

It's worth knowing this is a sad book in places. Stella's foot keeps getting infected and the mall's owner doesn't want to pay for the vet. Ruby was chained up at her old circus, and she says humans killed her family. Bob's brothers and sisters were thrown from a truck onto the freeway when they were puppies. It's all told simply, by animals who mostly don't complain, which can make it hit harder.

A reader who gets very upset about animals being treated badly might need you nearby. For most, it's a story about friendship and hope (and plenty of dry jokes from Bob).

What to read next

If they fall for Ivan's quiet voice, try Odder next, also by Katherine Applegate. It's told in short poems about a playful sea otter in Monterey Bay who keeps getting a bit too close to humans.