Shannon’s Reviews > The One and Only Ivan > Status Update

An easy 5 stars for this one. I can't believe this was based on a true story! It really makes this book that much more bittersweet.

remembering

Bob and Ruby sleep on.

I don't sleep. I think about the promise I made to Stella, and the pictures I've made for Ruby. And I remember.

I remember it all.

I can't put more than this in this update, but what he remembers is heart-breaking. Sometimes I really hate the human race.

"What's a zoo?" Ruby asks.

"A zoo, Ruby, is a place where humans make amends. A good zoo is a place where humans care for animals and keep them safe."

"Did the baby elephant get to the zoo?" Ruby asks softly.

I don't answer right away. "Yes," I say at last.

"How did she get there?" Ruby asks.

"She had a friend," I say. "A friend who made a promise."

Human babies are an ugly lot. But their eyes are like our babies' eyes.

Too big for their faces, and for the world.

Stella once teased me that elephants are superior because they feel more joy and more grief than apes.

"Your gorilla hearts are made of ice, Ivan," she said, her eyes glittering. "Ours are made of fire."

Right now I would give all the yogurt raisins in all the world for a heart made of ice.

:'(

"What's a dollar? What's a gift store?"

I close my eyes. "I'm a little sleepy, Ruby."

"Have you ever driven a truck?" Ruby asks.

I don't answer.

"Ivan?" Ruby asks. "Can Bob fly?"

A memory flashes past me, surprising me. I think of my father, snoring peacefully under the sun while I try every trick I know to wake him.

Perhaps, I realize, he wasn't really such a sound sleeper after all.

sorry

I'm sorry I called those children slimy chimps.

My mother would be ashamed of me.

my visitors return

After the show, the spit-pebble children come back.

I display my impressive teeth. I splash in my filthy pool. I grunt and hoot. I eat and eat and eat some more.

The children pound their pathetic chests. They toss more pebbles.

"Slimy chimps," I mutter. I throw a me-ball at them.

Sometimes I wish the glass were not there.

three visitors

Three visitors are here: a woman, a boy, a girl.

I strut across my domain for them. I dangle from my tire swing. I eat three banana peels in a row.

The boy spits at my window. The girl throws a handful of pebbles.

Sometimes I'm glad the glass is there.

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.

:'(