The One and Only Ivan
One of the
greatest works of Children’s Literature, The
One and Only Ivan written by Katherine Applegate is one of the greatest
stories I have read in a long time. Winner of the Newbery Award last year, The One and Only Ivan focuses on the
life of a silverback gorilla named Ivan and his friends that remain caged up in
a mall. Ivan grows up and spends most of his life in a small habitat where he
can watch television (with a particular liking of old westerns) and drawing for
his visitors. Most of his time is spent either in seclusion or talking with his
friends who aren’t exactly other gorillas. His friend Bob is a dog and Stella
is an elephant. Throughout the story, we learn Stella has passed away due to
living her life in small quarters and not living with her family and other elephants
in the wild. Before Stella dies, a new younger and spunky elephant named Ruby
joins the gang and is relentless when it comes to questions. Before Stella dies,
she wishes that Ivan takes care of Ruby and find her a better and more suitable
home than being locked up in a mall. Then there’s Julia, a little girl who is
the daughter of the Mall’s janitor who often comes and spends time watching and
talking with the animals. With Ivan’s promise to help Ruby, Ivan is persistent
and finally is able to communicate with Julia that he must free and find Ruby a
new home. With Julia’s help, Ivan, Ruby and the other animals at the mall are
finally freed and taken to a zoo where they can live a better life.
After
reading and looking over the criteria and terms for the Newbery Medal and
thinking about the story of The One and
Only Ivan, there’s no question why this novel won the award. The author
paints a beautiful and quite clear picture of this gorilla and his life in a
very small cage in a mall. The detail and description creates a clear picture
in the readers mind of what is going on behind the cage of each animal that is
presented in the story. It’s a story that in a simple and fresh tone explains
the life of a caged animal and away from their natural habitat. With a
complicated concept of understanding the lives and characters of these animals,
the author does a wonderful job describing the loneliness and sadness each
animal is faced within this story. This particular novel is written at a third
grade reading level making easy for young readers to really engage in the story
and really learn about each character.
(image via pinterest)
No comments:
Post a Comment