The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate was such a heartwarming story. This story intrigued me from the moment I found out that it was told from a gorilla’s point of view. Ivan lived at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video arcade. His best friends are an elephant named Stella and a stray dog named Bob. Ivan seemed to accept the fact that living in an artificial habitat was his life. This was not his ideal habitat, like the beautiful, free style of living he once had with his mother, father, and sister. When speaking of his home at Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video arcade, he said, “…with enough time, you can get used to almost anything.” I fell in love with Ivan from the beginning of the story. He was very humble, realistic, kind, and wise. Ivan’s thoughts were deep and meaningful. He thought that humans talked too much and wasted their words. Ivan did not waste words, he chose each one carefully. He was able to describe things in a simple, yet powerful way. An example of this was when Ivan described his dog friend Bob. “Bob used to have three brothers and two sisters. Humans tossed them out of a truck onto the freeway when they were a few weeks old. Bob rolled into a ditch. The others did not.” He stated the facts and this allowed the reader to go deeper with the message that was conveyed. This happened several times throughout the book.
Ivan began to change as soon as Ruby moved into his Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video arcade domain. He found himself talking more because he wanted to make Ruby feel comfortable. Ruby even convinced Ivan to recall some of his childhood memories. Before Stella passed away, he made a promise to her that he would find a safe domain for Ruby to live in. Ivan knew that this was an incredibly difficult and important promise. He immediately began thinking of ways to keep his promise to Stella. Ivan finally decided to make a sign for the billboard. He painted a picture of Ruby in a zoo and wrote the word “home”. Ivan chose to show his paintings to Julia, who he had developed a friendship with over the past few years while her father, Mack, cleaned the mall. When Ivan was trying to convince Julia to look at his paintings so that his message could be revealed, she began to leave. At this point Ivan was furious and began beating his chest to get their attention. He thought, “I’m angry, at last. I have someone to protect.”
Julia was able to understand Ivan’s message and she convinced her father to display it on the billboard. He agreed. Shortly after this bold move, Ruby and Ivan were transported to a zoo. Ivan had kept his promise to Stella by getting Ruby into a safe domain. As if this wasn’t enough of a happy ending, Ivan received the opportunity to see Ruby happily interacting with other elephants. He also had a surprise visit from Julia, Mack, and Bob. Mack received a job at the zoo and Julie adopted Bob. As Mack settled into to his new life with other gorillas, he finds a spot in a tree where he will be able to watch Ruby in her new domain.
I absolutely loved this book! It wasn’t like any other children’s novel I had ever read before. Most children’s novels seem to spell out the characters’ feelings and over emphasize the seriousness of a situation. I felt that Katherine Applegate did the opposite, with brilliant form. Ivan was a character who spoke volumes about his feelings with few words. This created the need and desire for deep reading. I found myself pausing for a moment before I turned the next page, I was thinking more about what had just happened. By doing so, I had empathy and a deeper understanding for Ivan. As he described the horror and pain his family went through when they were killed by humans. He did this in three intense sentences. There was no need for any more explanation or description. I had definitely engaged in deep reading here. I couldn’t help but think of the horror anyone (animal or human) would endure seeing your mother and father’s lives taken, right before your eyes. Ivan was an extremely strong character who dealt with hardship admirably. He never complained or felt sorry for himself but when it came to protecting someone else, he was tremendously passionate and dedicated. At this point, Ivan must have connected to and understood his father’s dedication to protect his family. Ruby a part of was Ivan’s family and he wanted to protect her.
I think that this would be an amazing book to introduce to students. I could see this book being perfect for third grade. At this grade, students would be able to understand most of the funny sarcasm that comes from Bob. I am sure that they would go crazy over Ivan’s use of a “me-ball”. I do not think that my first graders would understand the intensity of Ivan’s struggles throughout the story, which is a major factor in reading deeply during this story. They would understand that Ivan was sad and then he was happy at the end, but the story is so much more than that.
My way of “introducing” the book to students would be to ask students before reading, to share their thoughts about taking wild animals out of their natural habitats for the sake of entertainment. I couldn’t help but think that I need to do extensive research if I ever choose to go to another circus. Do they really chain animals to the floor for 23 hours a day; do they really treat animals this way? If I taught older students that would definitely be our next research project. I think that students would fall in love with this book. So many children are animal lovers, I couldn’t imagine how much they would enjoy reading about Ivan, and what lengths they may go to ensure other animals were not treated this way.
*Addition to One and Only Ivan: How to digitally enhance the reading of The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate:
In order to enhance the reading of The One and Only Ivan, I would show my students the following trailer before we began reading, http://tinyurl.com/74l65e3. This would prepare them for the emotion that is evoked by reading this book. It would set the stage for students to think seriously about how Ivan and Stella must feel about being locked inside cages, even if they do not complain about it. I would also use the following website, http://theoneandonlyivan.com/ivan/ to show them that even though this is a fictional story, it was inspired by a story about a gorilla named Ivan. This website shows students what Ivan looks like in real life. It even shows a video clip of the real Ivan at the zoo in Atlanta. I think that if students go into this book with the understanding that real things like this happen, they will engage in deep reading throughout the book. As my students read this book, (if I taught upper elementary) I would setup a wiki and have my students keep an online journal of their responses to the text. I would hope that students would develop a passion for treating animals humanly if they do not already feel strongly about it this topic. I would also give my students a Flip Camera so they could record their literature circle discussions. This would be a nice way for the teacher to see if students were reading deeply without being a daily participant in their literature circle. Students would probably speak more freely without the teacher present each time. Additionally, I would show students the video clip from this website, http://tinyurl.com/6q4a2cg which shows real photographs of Ivan’s domain, it is very moving.
Stacy Durham 
This would be perfect for your 3rd graders. In 2nd grade they learn about habitats and their life cycles, so this would be a great way to bring in prior knowledge frm what they learned the previous year. How you would introduce the book with upper grades is exactly how I introduced the book when I read it to my class. We made it a research project and was able to meet the real Ivan virtually!! The kids were so amazed!
I agree that this book would be a little too much for a 1st grader to handle, plus I would not want to explain to them the cruelties discussed in the book at this age. I think 3rd grade and up would be appropriate grades for children to read and would be able to understand the content. I think even children with lower reading levels would be able to read this story with the right instruction. I loved the way in the book Ivan kept saying humans waste words. Maybe that was what Applegate was thinking when she wrote in the format she did. She did a great way of communicating her point with fewer words, shorter chapters and descriptive language. I like the way Applegate made the animals so human and writing from the animals point of view. I could see this being a movie one day.
Stacy,
I also LOVED the way Katherine Applegate used very few words and sentences to describe Ivan’s feelings throughout the book. I definitely agree with you that many children’s books today over-emphasize character development, setting, relationships, etc. and it often times confuses children or makes it more difficult for them to relate to the story. When Ivan was recalling some of the most difficult times of his life, such as when he watched his parents get killed or when he was separated from his sister, Applegate used nothing but a few words to describe the situations and that was more than enough. I think this was a fantastic book and I would definitely use it with my future classes!
Stacy,
I love how you say, “Ivan began to change as soon as Ruby moved in…” It’s so true, and that statement paints such a wonderful picture of the rest of the book. The way he references his feelings in such succinct wording really does lend the reader toward “deep reading”. I think you become very aware of Ivan’s special affection for Ruby immediately, and then you begin to notice the change in his motivation. He is no longer as focused on the responses of the people around him, but rather focuses on his friends and how to help them. Applegate did such an awesome job with this book. Her human portrayal of this supposedly “savage” creature was phenomenal!
What a thoughtfully written post Stacy! I really sense your emotional reaction to the book and your compassion for Ivan (and animals in general). 🙂 What if you shared the book with your students as a book that you were reading? Perhaps pull in other books that connect thematically or that are about other primates? I LOVE these picture book biographies of Jane Goodall:
Have you ever heard of Koko? http://www.koko.org/world/#
Curious if you have read any of the above. 🙂
Dr. Frye,
I thought that your idea of presenting this book to my students as a book that I am currently reading was a great idea. I shared this book with my students last week and they were so interested. They went to the library and several students checked out books on gorillas that were at an appropriate reading level for first grade. My students wanted to compare the similarities and differences between my book and their books. We also checked out the links that you suggested, Koko was their favorite. This was such a fun and educational experience. Students have been in the process of completing animal research projects and I have a funny feeling that we are going to have several projects on gorillas now!
Stacy-
When I introduced this book to my class, I also showed them that same video trailer for the book because like you, I wanted to prepare them for the emotion that is evoked by reading this book. It would help them realize that it is a serious book, because most of them thought it wouldn’t be with the format of the book. The main book’s website is also another site I used in the beginning for my students to get some basic background knowledge on Ivan and his real story. It was important for my students to know the story itself wasn’t real, but it was inspired by the gorilla named Ivan that is now at Zoo Atlanta. Through reading this book, because I helped build that foundation and background knowledge in the beginning, my students were able to get into deep reading. They were truly connected in the book to where they didn’t want me to stop reading. They were reflecting and writing about Ivan each day, and what started as a small reflection ended up as a very thoughtful, in-depth writing reflection from my students that I didn’t even ask for. I also showed my students similar photographs to the ones you have linked and they loved looking at them as a visual to who Ivan is. I did a photo analysis project with one of the pictures of Ivan after reading the story as a reflection piece, and they truly loved it! I think you are on the right track to teach this book to your class if you planned on it. It seems that you know exactly what to do to build that foundation and to help them realize the seriousness of the book. Great work!
-Amanda Solesbee
Stacy,
I agree with you about the importance of students understand the real-life connections between this novel and the treatment of animals in our world. Giving that brief introduction before beginning the novel, as you suggested, would probably provide just enough information for students to make those connections without overloading them to the point where they are unable to think for themselves. This type of lesson in connections would hopefully also carry over to other novels they read and help them realize that other novels may have some sort of real-life connections.
Your idea to incorporate the Flip Camera to record group discussions is interesting. I think you’re right that students may be able to talk more freely if the teacher is not sitting right with them. This way they get to talk freely, and you get to listen in! I was also thinking that if only one Flip Camera was available, you could rotate the camera between groups. You wouldn’t be able to listen in on each group every day, but you could still get a good idea of how discussions are going.
Andrea,
Fortunately, I do have enough Flip Cameras for each of my groups to use. My students absolutely love using them and they have had such meaningful conversations. If a teacher only had one Flip Camera, as you mentioned, the downside would be missing out on the insider version of other group conversations.