One and Only Ivan Book Review
Hello Friends! My name is Avi Chadda and I am from Grade 5E, Sancta Maria International School. This blog is a book review for the book, ‘The One And Only Ivan’.
About the book
The One and Only Ivan is written by Katherine Applegate and illustrated by Patricia Castelao. It was published in 2012. The book genre is Non-fiction Fantasy, inspired by a true story.
Ivan
Ivan is a silverback gorilla who lived in the forest with his family until Mack, a mall owner took him away from them. Ivan eventually found comfort with Mack and his family. It took him some time to realize he was going to be at a mall in a cage for the rest of his lifetime with his new animal friends.
Stella
One of Ivan’s best friends, Stella was a humongous elephant. Stella was a mountain while Ivan was a rock in front of her. Stella was the smartest amongst all the animals in the mall. Unfortunately, she had a foot swelling because of a chain around her foot as tight as a python squeezing its prey. Since Mack didn’t care for her therefore, he didn’t bring a vet to treat her. Unfortunately, Stella took her last breath and Ivan and his friends were heart broken.
Ruby
Once Stella got to know that she was about to die, she made Ivan promise to take care of Ruby and take her to a place better than the mall. Ruby was a baby elephant who looked like Stella. She was a kind elephant with eyes as black as soot and long eye lashes. She became best friends with Ivan in no time. Then it became Ivan’s destiny to make Ruby leave the mall.
My Opinion
In my opinion, the story starts with a lot of characters which makes it boring. There were 17 characters in the first 40 pages that makes the story confusing. However, when Ruby is introduced, she makes Ivan realize the purpose of his life and the story becomes interesting.
There are few things I loved about this book.
- I was astonished to read about Ivan’s escape plan. Ivan drew “H-O-M-E” on 16 different pieces of paper. Next, he waited for the right moment for Julia, the mall washer’s daughter, to understand what he wrote. Julia figured out those letters and she put it on a billboard. The sight of those letters made many people make banners to free all the animals from the mall.
- I loved the plot twist at the end where instead of only Ruby going to the zoo, Ivan unexpectedly was freed too. Ivan’s intent was to only free Ruby because he hardly ever thought about the jungle. This tells us that good things happen to good gorillas.
How it could have gone better
The book could have gone better if at the start of the book there were fewer characters or the author could have made a character map to help the readers remember the names and roles of the characters.
Will I recommend it?
Yes. Even though the start was boring, the end was off the charts. You should actually consider reading it because you don’t want to miss out the fun of Ivan and his journey. This book tells us that hope is never lost. It also teaches us that animals are not dumb and we should not label them. The best part is the learning to stand up for your friends. Maybe, you just need friends in life to show you there are other options that you might like.
