Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label Katherine Applegate

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

I have been in my domain for nine thousand eight hundred and fifty-five days. Alone. For a while, when I was young and foolish, I thought I was the last gorilla on earth. Introduction  Katherine Applegate’s The One and Only Ivan is a poignant, beautifully written middle-grade novel that deftly explores themes of friendship, freedom, and the human-animal bond. Published in 2012, the book has garnered widespread acclaim, including winning the prestigious Newbery Medal. The story is inspired by the real-life experiences of a captive gorilla named Ivan, who spent 27 years in a shopping mall cage before being relocated to a zoo. Applegate’s novel, however, transcends its factual origins to deliver a tale that is both heartbreaking and hopeful. Through the voice of Ivan, a silverback gorilla who has lived for years in captivity, Applegate invites readers to reflect on the complexities of animal captivity and the powerful connections that can form between beings, no matter how different t...