Middle Grade Monday and Audiobook Review : The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Image: HarperCollins

The One and Only Ruby by Katherine Applegate. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~3 hours. Read by Imani Parks. HarperAudio, May, 2023. (E-audio book borrowed from public library. HC purchased.)

Happy Monday TMS Readers! Middle Grade Monday features The One and Only Ruby by Katherine Applegate. And now, it's Ruby's turn to tell her story. Fans of The One and Only Ivan and The One and Only Bob will be thrilled to hear Ruby's story. While she is now safe in a sanctuary with room to roam, a herd of doting elephant "aunties," and Ivan in the enclosure next door, Ruby is unsettled about her upcoming tuskday, a ritual her aunties insist is necessary. After Ruby is visited by an important person from her past, memories of her life in Africa come flooding back. Ruby's narration, told in blank verse, with grey toned illustrations make for a satisfying sequel.

Middle Grade Monday: The One and Only Ivan Full-Color Collector's Edition by Katherine Applegate

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

The One and Only Ivan  Full-Color Collector's Edition by Katherine Applegate. 352 p. HrperCollins Publishers, October, 2015. 9780062425249. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Middle Grade Monday features The One and Only Ivan  Full-Color Collector's Edition by Katherine Applegate. You may already know or have read this Newbery Medal winner. It is the first-person narration of Ivan, an ape in captivity in a shopping mall who became an artist. I didn't look it up, but I may have featured it in a "Daily Book Talk" on the morning announcements already. Forgive me. Indulge me. When TMS' copy of the book was lost last year, I reordered it. I must not have read the caption carefully, because when I opened the box, I found an over-sized, hefty beauty. If the black and white illustrations of the original were gorgeous, these full-color babies go beyond. If I thought the white space played an important role in the original, the white space here cannot be ignored. The paper is thick and luscious. Hopefully, it will stand up to much reading. 

This collector's edition is one to treasure. I am buying a copy for my home library. I was afraid the size would intimidate readers, but it doesn't. Display the book prominently and it won't sit. 

Fact Friday: Ivan: the remarkable true story of the shopping mall gorilla by Katherine Applegate

Ivan: the remarkable true story of the shopping mall gorilla by Katherine Applegate. Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. unpgd. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October, 2014. 978054252301. (Own)

Anyone who has read The One and Only Ivan  by Katherine Applegate knows that this work of fiction was based on a true story Fact Friday features Ivan: the remarkable true story of a shopping mall gorilla. Katherine Applegate gently tells Ivans story of capture by poachers and his journey to the U.s. The muted illustrations by G. Brian Karas mirror the tone of the narrative. Backmatter includes photos of the real Ivan, who died in 2012. 

Non-Fiction Monday: Eight Dolphins of Katrina: a true tale of survival

by Janet Wyman Coleman. Illustrated by Yan Nascimbene. unpgd. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, August, 2013. 9780547719238. (Borrowed from public library.)

In the wake that was the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, this is the story of the improbable rescue of eight dolphins who were born in captivity but swept out into the Gulf of Mexico when a 40-foot wave destroyed their tank. The gorgeous photograph of two playful dolphins on the cover may cause one to expect a photo-essay. Indeed, I looked twice to see if this was a Scientist in the Field entry. Instead, watery paintings illustrate the story of storm preparations, disaster and recovery efforts. It's a short and gentle story for younger readers.

The second part of the book discusses instances where dolphins saved human life. An "exclusive" scrap book of the 
dolphins before and after their rescue concludes the volume.

It was nice to see how the trainers cared for and about the dolphins who, having been raised in captivity, had no survival skills for life in the wild. It was incredible that the dolphins found each other and stayed together in the Gulf. Just as incredible was their willingness to learn new tricks in order to assist in their rescue.

The illustrations fit the stories nicely. The photographs in the scrapbook were well-chosen. This real-life rescue story will appeal to animal lovers.

Non-fiction Monday is hosted this week by Jean Little Library.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (audio reread)

Unabridged audiobook on 3 compact discs, 3.75 hours. Read by Adam Grupper. Recorded Books, April, 2013. 9781470351236. (Borrowed from the library.)

Ivan, a silverback gorilla, contemplates life as "the ape at exit 8." He has a few friends in Stella, the elephant and Bob, the stray dog who likes to sleep on his stomach. He has little regard for humans and almost no memory of life before living in his painted cement "domain."

I read The One and Only Ivan with my eyes back in July but never got around to reviewing it. Not because I didn't love it, I adored it and had some Newbery hopes for it. I just fell behind  in my reviewing. I mentioned it in a post at the end of the year when I looked back on all the books I read in 2012 and noticed all the books I loved but didn't review.

So when I saw that SLJ gave the audiobook a starred review last month, I put it on my list to revisit, but with some trepidation. You see, among this novel's many strengths is Ivan's voice. He is an ape of few emotions and even fewer words. The voice in my head was rumbly and gravelly with lots of pausing as the short sentences and couplets reflect in the book. 

     "Humans waste words. They toss them like banana peels 
      and leave them to rot."

     "Humans speak too much. They chatter like chimps, 
     crowding the world with their noise even when they
     have nothing to say."

     "Gorillas are as patient as stones. Humans, not so much."

Perhaps it is for this reason that I rarely reread books that I've read with my eyes with my ears. My audio reading consists mostly of fantasy, YA, or books I tried with my eyes and didn't get into but got lots of great reviews. 

But what with the starred review in SLJ and the fact that I attended the Newbery banquet a couple of weeks ago, I felt the need to reread the book after listening to the author's acceptance speech. I can't begin to describe my disappointment when I realized that Adam Grupper's voice for Ivan was not gravelly and rumbly and that, while his pace was rather slow, did not reflect the poetic rhythm of the writing.

I almost stopped reading within the first few minutes of the audiobook. But then, I was ironing and the cd player was in my pocket. I decided to give it to the end of the first cd and just concentrate on Applegate's lovely writing. (Plus, I rarely abandon a book because I'm stubborn like that.) 

I'm glad I soldiered on because then came Bob's voice. It matched the one in my head. So I committed. I got teary when <spoiler alert!> Stella died. I finished my ironing and sat and sat, totally immersed, and listened to the story in one sitting. And, while I didn't fall completely in love with Grupper's reading, I did fall in like and came to appreciate his performance and interpretation of the book. I'm not sure I would've given it a star had I been the SLJ reviewer though.

I don't wish to dissuade you from reading The One and Only Ivan with your ears. I just want to say that to read it with your ears means that you're missing out on the white space. Yes, the white space. Sure there are lots of lovely bits of spot art that endearingly portray characters but the white space speaks volumes. There aren't many long paragraphs in this book. Most are two sentences, many are one. Ivan doesn't waste any words, after all. The white space represents Ivan's thoughtful processing, his gradual awakening. It's Important.

There are many moments of lovely writing to stop to appreciate along the way here as well. Sometimes, it's nice to stop to marvel over a turn of phrase or an observation. This is rather difficult to do when reading with my ears, especially since I'm usually doing it while walking my dog, gardening, driving, folding clothes or vacuuming. But perhaps I'm listening wrong.

My apologies for this non-review. I suppose this post is more musing than analysis, perhaps it's fodder for an essay post on expectations or some such. 

How do you read with your ears?

Non-Fiction Monday: Queenie: One elephant's story by Corinne Fenton

Illustrated by Peter Gouldthorpe. 24 p. Candlewick Press, June 11, 2013. 9780763663759. 

Whenever I recollect childhood visits to the Bronx Zoo when I was a kid in the 60s, I remember feeling sadness even though these animals were most impressive to view up close. 

Even though Horton Hatches an Egg is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, Horton's travails make me terribly sad. 

When our kids were small, my husband and I took them to see The Big Apple Circus. When the elephant was trotted out, we both turned to each other with identical looks of sadness. There's just something so wrong about such a majestic beast balancing on a beach ball let alone enclosed, far away from its natural habitat.

Queenie was born in the Indian jungle sometime in the late 1800s but hunters trapped her, tied her up, hoisted her onto a steamship and sent her to a zoo in Melbourne. In 1905, when she was estimated to be nine-years-old, she was deemed old enough to carry passengers. And so, six days a week, she would wait patiently while zoo visitors climbed a stepladder and sat in a saddle called a howdah. She was a very popular attraction and folks would wait for hours for a ride. "On some days she carried more than five hundred people." 

She seemed to have special affection for one of her keepers. Children would leave treats on the fence posts. But some children would tease her and stick pins in her trunk. She was able to exact some revenge though.

The zoo made lots of money with merchandising. Queenie posters, pencils and postcards were quite popular and her birthday was celebrated every year. 

After nearly forty years of service, Queenie accidentally killed one of her zoo keepers in 1944 and the Zoo Board decided it was too unsafe for her to continue carrying passengers. Despite thousands of letters written on behalf of the elephant, she was put to sleep in 1945 due to the food shortages during the war and the high cost of feeding Queenie.

The story ends by explaining that the Melbourne Zoo as well as most zoos around the world now provides the animals in captivity habitats similar to their native habitats. 

In merely 24 pages, using gently matter-of-fact language, the author invites the reader to reflect on the issue of animals in captivity without bashing us over the head with the message. As if the story weren't sad enough, the illustrations, though gorgeous evoke the terror of her capture and delivery to the zoo, first via cart, then ship, then truck. They are realistically painted, but left unfinished around the borders giving them action a sort of spot-lit feel. In each picture, Queenie appears stoic and dignified. They just beg the reader to linger. This one is a keeper.

Non-Fiction Monday is hosted by Practically Paradise today.