Kontos, James

Book review #2

English period 4

December 12, 2016

                                              One and Only Ivan

The novel, One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate is about a gorilla named Ivan.He and his 

friends a dog named Bob and an elephant named Stella live in an area where people could watch 

them in their cages..  They live at mall called Big Top Mall and Video Arcade.  People could see 

Ivan and Stella “perform” at 2, 4, and 7 o’clock 365 days a year.The owner Mack needed more

business so he bought a little elephant, named Ruby to join the group.  Ivan was too big to perform

 so Mack had the two elephants do this. Stella the elephant dies from mistreatment.Before she dies,

she makes Ivan promise to take care of Ruby.   Ruby had to be trained to take over.  She was abused just like Stella.  Ivan came up with the idea to paint pictures of Ruby being at a zoo to get good people’s attention.  He wanted her to go and live where good people would take care of her.  People got involved and had all the animals taken away form the mall.  They were placed in a zoo.

I enjoyed the way Ivan would think and describe certain things. For example on page 21 he said:  “They drifted past  my domain like logs on a lazy river.”  I think it was funny the way Bob the dog would sleep on Ivan’s tummy at night.  It reminds me of my dog. My favorite part was when he saved Ruby by painting his feelings on pictures.Page 226 in the book explains how Ivan’s pictures where in the Newspaper.  Many people reacted to the pictures by trying to help the animals.I din’t like the way Mack treated the animals.  To him, the animals where ways he could earn money.  Mack did not take care of the animals as well as he should have.  An example of this is page 234 where  you will read that an inspector came and wrote down al the violations Mack had.  I liked the end of the book because Ivan kept his promise to Stella. I liked that not only Ruby, but all the other animals were saved. I would recommend this book to other people because it makes you feel good when you finish reading it.”From my seat in the tree, I can see beyond the wall.  I see giraffes and hippos.  I see deer with legs like delicate twigs.  I see elephants.”  (page 292-293.)