3. The One and Only Ivan

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (Harper, 2012).

Genre

Animals

Honors (for the novel; not the audio book)

Newbery Medal 2013

Review

The book is narrated from the perspective of Ivan, a gorilla who lives in a shopping mall.  He was captured in Africa as a child and raised by Mack who runs the mall.  The main narrative of the book details the purchase of a baby elephant -- Ruby -- to drum up interest in the mall again.  As an older elephant at the mall is dying, she asks Ivan to promise to take care of Ruby.  He doesn't hesitate to make the promise, but quickly regrets it; he doesn't know how to ensure that Ruby will have a better life.  He hatches an elaborate plan to draw a billboard showing Ruby in a zoo with the word HOME under the picture.  But will the humans understand his message?

Opinion

The book is a pretty damning account of the way that humans sometimes mistreat animals.  Despite the kindness shown the animals by the janitor George and his daughter Julia, these scenes are quite sad.  It paints an interesting portrait about what responsibility and care looks like.

Ideas

I think this book is a compelling successor to Charlotte's Web.  Instead of merely rethinking the treatment of the animals that we eat, this books seems to suggest that we take more global responsibility.  Even the zoo, which is seen as a kind of freedom, is not painted as the ultimate escape for the animals.  While the book doesn't mention global warming at all, it's hard for me not to think of the effect that the melting ice caps have on polar bears.  And the idea that Ivan was at the mall for 27 years (both the character and the real life inspiration) makes the book feel like a Kitty Genovese story.  It would work well read with Charlotte's web or lessons about the extinction of animal species.