The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Summary 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.

Review:

I feel like I failed some kind of Children’s Librarian test because I had not read this book before….and the weirdest of all weird things is I seriously thought I had…like if you had asked if me if I had read it, I would have told you I had and I would have believed it! How many other books do I believe I have read, but actually haven’t?

In other news, I LOVED this book, and I am so glad I came to my senses and finally did read it. What a sweet, remarkable story. Normally, I don’t go for books about animals. I never liked them (maybe this has something to do with my delayed reading of the book). But, wow, Ivan. I loved him immediately. I loved how he saw the world, and how he saw art. I loved how he connected to people and other animals. And I loved how he wanted to do right by everyone around him, no matter how no one seemed to do right by him.

There were several scenes that brought tears to my eyes, and not all of them even made sense. The first time Ivan made art that wasn’t a picture of something directly in front of him made me cry…When Ivan told Ruby a joke for the first time, I also weirdly had tears in my eyes. Then other times, it did make sense, like when Ivan said goodbye to Bob…And when Ivan watched a video of Ruby…Oh my God, I was legit sobbing.

I think what gets me the most about it all is that Ivan doesn’t do anything for himself (aside from eat a few yogurt raisins). He does it all for Ruby and Stella. He doesn’t try to save himself or change his story. He does everything selflessly. He brings all these changes, makes all these sacrifices, and creates all this art all to help someone else.

This is a book of kindness and love and friendship above all else. Yes, it’s about a remarkable gorilla who can paint pictures, and teach himself to write! It’s about the treatment of wild animals. It’s about unlikely friendships. It’s about cages versus homes. It’s about good humans versus bad humans. But, mostly, it’s about kindness and love. And who doesn’t need a good story about that? I give this a 10/10.