Title: “The One and Only Ivan” 

Author: Katherine Applegate 

Reading level: Second through third grade  

This is a book about Ivan the gorilla, who lives at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade.   

He has become accustomed to being watched and performing tricks for humans, like painting pictures.  He and his friend Stella, a very old elephant, do not understand humans; however, when their human caretaker adds a young elephant to their show, Ivan begins to see life from a different point of view, and he makes a promise to Stella that he will do everything he can to make the young elephant’s life better. 

This is a great story for reluctant readers. Since the story is from Ivan’s perspective, the sentences are short, with a good deal of spacing between them.   

This is a great read–aloud book that would be interesting for a multiple age groups and interest levels. 

Parents and children can access the web page Teaching Books, teachingbooks.net, for various activities, information about the author and an audio excerpt for the book. Scroll to the bottle of the Teaching Books web page and click Children’s Book and Resources. This will take you to Book Connections, where you can search for this book and resources.   

If you have any questions about any of our digital resources, please contact the library at 256-773-9880.  

Happy reading!