Free At Last
The One And Only Ivan
The One And Only Ivan:By Katherine Applegate
Published in 2012 by Harper publishers
300 pages of great story telling!
Character description
Ivan the gorilla is the main character. The other important characters are a girl named Julia, An elephant named Stella, a newcomer elephant named Ruby and a dog named Bob. Julia helped figure out what Ivan's message was in his drawings. Stella taught Ivan about being sacred and wise. Ruby taught him to have fun. Bob taught him about freedom.
Plot Summary
The book is about Ivan who is a silverback gorilla that has an interesting story at the big top mall and video arcade. The story starts by an introduction to Ivan and the other characters. Everything is smooth until Stella (the wise elephant) dies. Ivan tries to keep his promise on protecting Ruby. The climatic scene is when Julia and her father George are trying to decrypt Ivans message. Ivans message says he wants to go (Home) which in Ivan's perspective is out of his Domain. At the end Ivan and Ruby make it to the zoo and Ivan's drawing works. Ivan lived for 27 happy years:)
Conflict
The conflict of the story is Ivan's struggle to keep Stella's dying wish, which is to protect Ruby and make her happy. Ivan struggles for the fulfillment of Stella's wish is the reason that he made that drawing that saved them.
Title explaination
The title involves the story because Ivan is the one and only as said on the billboard of the mall that holds him. This title is important because That's who Ivan is inside, "The One And Only Ivan
Book review
I would give this book a 4/5 because of it's one flaw which is how fast the book tried to escalate things. I feel like there should have been more of the story, even though it was a 300 page book it felt like 50. The author could have provided a bit richer story telling.