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The One and Only Ivan

By: Katherine Applegate
Dig in, animal lovers!
Kelly: ☻☻☻☻☻
Boy Reader:☻☻☻☻☻


This is Charlotte’s Web for the modern reader. The 2013 Newbery Award is well-deserved.

The gorilla (Ivan) tells the story. His voice is FANTASTIC. I did have trouble doing justice to his dry humor while reading aloud.

Boy Reader and I both held back on reading this one for the same reason, we were worried it would be too sad. And it was sad. But the author manages to balance the realities of an animal in unacceptable conditions with hope and humor. It works because Ivan is content. He is an artist who likes to watch TV, throw dung, and lament that he is related to chimpanzees. He’s only motivated to change by the baby elephant's need, not his own. There is a little girl who is an artist too, and if Ivan draws a banana, she sees a banana, where everyone else sees scribbles. I want to be her.

The book looks fat and might put some off, but it is actually perfect for the sound bite generation. Paragraphs are a sentence or two, chapters are a page or two, and there’s lots of space in between.


Once Boy Reader got started on this one, there was no stopping him. My apologies to his school district: I really did try to get him to bed early before those state standardized tests, but he couldn't put this book down.


Boyz Readz by Kelly Mroz

  • Home
  • About
  • Reviews
    • The BFG
    • The Black Pearl
    • Ella Enchanted
    • Every Falling Star
    • Frindle
    • From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
    • Grandmaster
    • Gregor the Overlander
    • Half Magic
    • The Martian
    • Nocturnals
    • The One and Only Ivan
    • Pay It Forward
    • Peak
    • Phineas Gage
    • Prisoner B-3087
    • The Quirks: Welcome to Normal
    • Ranger's Apprentice
    • The Red Pyramid
    • Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper
    • Spy X -- The Code
    • There's Treasure Everywhere
    • Upside-Down Magic
    • The Whisperer
    • Wings of Fire
    • The Worst Class Trip Ever
  • Contact
  • Top Lists