Richard's Class Novel Ideas discussion
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The One and Only Ivan
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The One and Only Ivan
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Ivan is a calm gorilla who has spent the majority of his life living in a domain in a shopping mall. He makes close friends while he is there, Stella and Bob, then a new baby elephant, Ruby, joins the mall and she manages to capture Ivan's heart. When a travesty occurs, shaking all of the animals in the shopping center, Ivan promises to make a change for them.
One of the things that I really like in this novel was the use of Ivan's perspective. It was a unique approach to put readers inside the mind of a gorilla. It was often comical to see his perspective of humans and how dogs and elephants view us as well.
On the other hand, I really did not enjoy the structure of this novel. It seemed to be in-between a poetic and narrative form. I wish it would have chosen to go more one way or the other because it often threw me off. I think it took away from the novel, rather than contributing to it. Although I am sure others probably enjoyed this different kind of structure, I did not.
The One and Only Ivan is an easy read and contains a light hearted message. It really pushes the envelope on animal cruelty and makes its readers view animals as real people. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves animals!
1. Rate the book out of 5 stars (1=hated it; 5=loved it).
2. Provide a BRIEF, 2-3 sentence, summary of the text.
3. What did you enjoy/not enjoy about the book? Be SPECIFIC.
4. Who/what kind of person do you think would enjoy this book?
5. NO SPOILERS!