Book Stop Corner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Human can surprise you sometimes. An unpredictable species, Homo sapiens”




Katherine Applegate, a multiple award-winning American author, has penned a deeply moving tale about an adult gorilla living inside a glass cage in a mall in America, in her book, The One and Only Ivan. Inspired from real-life events, the author pens a heart-breaking yet thoroughly entertaining story about a gorilla and his friends and his mission to find freedom, and mind it, this book is not only for the middle-grade children, but can be enjoyed irrespective of any age of the reader, from young to old.



Synopsis:

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.

Ivan was a baby gorilla when he was adopted by Mack, a mall owner. All his life he grew up inside a glass cage and all his needs were taken care of by Mack and the animals-keeper, George. Ivan has no idea about the life outside that mall. He is accompanied by a dig named, Bob, some birds and an elephant named Stella. All these animals have a strong bond of friendship and understanding. Stella is the oldest among the lot and shares stories about the world outside with Ivan. Now Ivan has a lots of qualities of his own, he can paint, which is later sold at the gift store in the mall, he loves watching TV and is a big fan of Western movies and also loves watching humans passing by his glass cage every day. But his life is not all too glorious, he longs to be free and wants to be free among his kind. So when a baby white elephant named Ruby joins the lot, Ivan thinks otherwise and begins a mission on his own to free himself as well as Ruby from that mall.

Honestly, I've read anything so touching as well as thoroughly enlightening. The author did a great job in capturing the voice of the animals, especially Ivan, through this story and thus making the readers feel connected with him. The author's writing is emphatic and is layered perfectly with humor and sadness. The plot, though a real-life inspired story, moves with a fast pace as Ivan notes down his observations about his life and that of humans around him. The narrative style is crisp and engaging and is easy for the kids to read with short, clear sentences and especially written with an easy to understand English, meaning there is no flowery words.

The characters here are mostly animals and the author has captured their honest voice and thoughts thus bringing them to life. Ivan is the most adorable character of the book and I bet it will be difficult for the readers to let him go after the end of this story. Ivan's opinion about human are bound to make the readers take a pause and think for a while about their attitude towards animals and how we treat them. Ivan is funny, laid-back, and quite intelligent gorilla who is smart enough to chalk out an escape plan for himself as well as for the fellow elephant. Ivan's story is not only an eye-opener, but also thoroughly painful, especially when he narrates about his every day life in that glass cage. Ruby and Bob are two other fascinating whose voice are also captured strikingly by the author. There are also some human characters some who treat these animals with love and care, like Julia and George, and some who only think them as a means to earn more money, like Mack.

We rarely give a thought about how the animals around us feel, but this boon is one hell of an uplifting story that will only make us, the humans, aware about their feelings and also will make us ponder about our attitude in general, for example, Ivan says:


That's an honest revelation about human nature. The story of Ivan is a must read for every other human being and this book can be a great learning tool for young kids.

In a nutshell, this story is captivating, heart-breaking as well as funny with a lesson to learn. And I return back to this story again and again. The emotions that are depicted through the narration are honest, straight from the core of the heart and are heart-felt with a power to make the readers sync with those emotions.

Verdict: The book has already won so many literary awards, so you don't need me telling you that this is a must-read book.

Courtesy: I received a copy of the book from Harper Collins India, in return for an honest review.
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Author Info:
Applegate was born in Michigan in 1956. Since then she has lived in Texas, Florida, California, Minnesota, Illinois, North Carolina, and after living in Pelago, Italy for a year, she has moved back to Southern California. She has an eleven year old son named Jake Mates, although she says the Animorph leader is not named after him. In 2003 she and her husband, Michael Grant, her co-author on many projects including Animorphs, adopted their daughter, Julia, in China.[citation needed] Following the end of Animorphs, Applegate took three years off. She is back at work and has written a picture book called "The Buffalo Storm," a middle reader novel called "Home of the Brave," and an early chapters series "Roscoe Riley Rules" with Harper Collins. Her book "Home of the Brave" has won the SCBWI Golden Kite Award, the Bank Street 2008 Josette Frank Award, and is a Judy Lopez Memorial Award honor book.
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