about the book
Ivan is a big, strong, yet easygoing silverback gorilla who lives at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. His domain is surrounded by glass walls, and he has gotten used to the stares of humans walking by—he has been there almost 10,000 days! He no longer thinks about his first home in the jungle…
Instead he thinks about TV shows, art, and his friends Stella—an old elephant—and Bob, a stray dog. He does artwork while other animals at this little roadside zoo perform for an audience, and though he doesn’t really like his situation, he does little to remedy it.
However, he cannot shake his silverback instinct to protect his family. Only thing is, he has no one to protect—that is, until Ruby, a baby elephant, arrives. With Ruby to take care of, the humans neglect Stella, and she dies—but not before making Ivan promise to help Ruby escape this life.
Before long, Ruby is showing Ivan new things, things he had forgotten, about artwork and life, and the power of hope and friendship.
But how can Ivan keep his promise to Stella?
about the author
Whether you look for Katherine Alice Applegate, or A. K. Applegate or the pen name Katherine Kendall, you will find that this popular writer is very prolific. She has written more than 100 books, including the popular Animorphs series. She says if she could morph into any animal, it would be a dolphin!
Katherine graduated with honors from the University of Texas but she didn’t know what she wanted to do. She waited on tables, typed badly, and watered plants for a living. She wandered from Florida to California, from Minnesota to Italy. Tired of these boring jobs, she decided to become a famous writer. After all, it required no social skills or physical exertion and she could wear comfortable clothes!
Easily distracted, Katherine sets a strict writing schedule for herself. She also writes adult novels, but she is mainly interested in middle grade students. Katherine feels they are the most open-minded and imaginative and are the very best readers on the earth.
She was inspired to write The One and Only Ivan after learning about a real gorilla named Ivan. He was captured in the African Congo as an infant and ended up in an odd collection of animals housed at a circus-themed mall in Washington State. He spent 27 years isolated in a cage. When the pubic began to voice concerns about Ivan’s lonely state, he was eventually placed at the Atlanta Zoo, which has the largest group of western lowland gorillas in the nation. Living contentedly with the other gorillas, Ivan became a celebrity known for his paintings, which he signed with a thumbprint! Ivan died on August 20, 2012, at the age of 50. Katherine wanted to give Ivan his own voice to tell his story.
In her spare time, Katherine plays the cello, tends her ankle-biting cats, and travels with son Jake, adopted daughter Julia, and husband Michael. Michael is also a writer and co- authors some of Katherine’s books. Their home is in southern California.
Sources:
Author interview : School Library Journal
Book website
Author biography : Bookrags
Author page : Simon & Schuster
Also by Katherine Applegate:
Home of the Brave. Feiwel and Friends. 2007.
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