The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Winner, 2013 Newbery Award
Quick Summary
Ivan, an artistic silverback gorilla, describes life at the Big Top Mall and Video Arcade off I-95 where he lives with a few friends, including Bob the dog and Stella the elephant.
Favorite Quote
I wonder who this Picasso is. Does he have a tire swing like me? Does he ever eat his crayons?
About the Author
Katherine Applegate is the author of the bestselling Animorphs series. She lives in northern California. (My favorite line from her bio: "She lived in Michigan, Illinois and Texas before graduating from The University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Aimlessness and a minor in Indecision.")
My Project
I knew as soon as I read the description of Ivan's surroundings at the mall that I wanted to try and create a layered piece with acrylic to emphasize the barriers between the humans and animals in this book. I chose to use three separate pieces because I liked the look of the vertical lines, a little like the bars of a jail cell. The crack on the acrylic (bottom left corner) mimics the crack that Ivan caused in his own glass enclosure.
Ivan describes a painted jungle scene as his backdrop. My idea was to make something that was colorful verging on tacky to go with the shopping mall setting. I love the way the layered green tissue paper came out. I did a little research on art made by gorillas to make the "banana" painting that I adhered to the acrylic. I added some dabs of red which could be merely paint or blood; there's a bit of each in the book. This piece looks lonely and not particularly beautiful to me, which fits the feelings I had about the situation that inspired the book.
Final Thoughts
The story's language is very simple, which is part of the reason that this book felt so heartbreaking. There's a gap between the straightforward observations of the gorilla narrator and the unsaid nuances that you pick up as a human reader. Here's one example: "At present, I do not have any gorilla friends." Doesn't that just strike at your heart? Of course, as a reader I also knew that this book was inspired by a true story of a gorilla who lived for 27 years at a shopping mall before being move to a zoo. I'm sure that colored my reading of this book. Luckily, there is some humor to balance out the pathos and some nice moments of friendship among the animals. I appreciated the wise and beautiful lines in this book, particularly in the dialogue. Here's one favorite from Stella the elephant:
"They think I'm too old to cause trouble," Stella says.
"Old age," she says, "is a powerful disguise."
Your Turn
Readers: If you read this book, I'd love to hear what you think in the comments.
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