Realistic Fiction Review: The One and Only Ivan

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Title: The One and Only Ivan

Author: Katherine Applegate

Illustrator: Patricia Castelao

Genre: Children's Literature, 

Publisher: HarperCollins

Copyright Date: 2012

Pages: 336

Awards: 2013 John Newbery Medal

Summary: This is an incredibly sad story that will break your heart and then against all odds mend it. Ivan who is a gorilla has been living at the Big Top Mall and Video Arcade for most of his life, along with his friend Stella the elephant and Bob the stray dog. The living conditions are not great, along with the treatment from their human Mac. Ivan's true passion is making art, and he spends the days trying to capture his surroundings through art. A new friend named Ruby enters and that is when Ivan decided he will do anything to make sure that Ruby has a better life than what their friend Stella had. 

Educational Purpose: I would use this book as a novel study. Students would focus on word work, comprehension strategies, and point of view while engaging in daily discussions. Students will also keep a vocabulary journal throughout reading, identifying unfamiliar words. Also there would be learning extensions throughout the novel. One of the extensions would be to have students research about gorillas or elephants (their choice). For this research they would need to find out information about their habitat, diet, physical descriptions, and other interesting facts. 

Grade Level: (Third-Fifth Grade) The topic will be familiar and likable to the readers. New vocabulary will be introduced, and will expand the readers reading skills. This is a chapter book with some small illustrations. Lexile 570L.

Ratings:

					Comments
Plot	Excellent plot that is clever and has many surprising twists.	Good plot that has some surprises.	This is an okay plot that is kinda interesting.	Loose plot with many holes, and fails to grab the reader’s attention.	This is a very engaging book.
Character	Excellent characterization. The characters are complex and provide a strong emotional impact on the reader.	The characters are believable and the reader can relate to them, and feel an emotional tie to the characters.	The characters are lacking but likable. There is some emotional attachment to the characters.	The characters are poorly described, and leave the reader feeling detached from the book.	The characters are amazingly developed. Throughout the novel you are cheering and hoping for the best. You become emotionally attached to the animals in the story.
Illustration	Excellent illustrations. Very detailed, creative, and connected to the book.	Illustrations were good and showed something important about the book.	The illustrations were okay, they were not very creative.	There was no illustrations, or they were not interesting.	The illustrations are delicate and do a good job shedding some light on what the author imagined.
Recommendation	Excellent book that I highly recommend having in your classroom or library. This book will captivate, enchant, fascinate, and basically make you obsess about it.	Good book that I recommend having in your classroom or library. The book was interesting and kept my interest and was overall very engaging.	This book was okay. I believe this would be a book to check out from the library if you're feeling bored.	This book was awful and I cannot recommend it for your classroom or library. This book will leave you wishing you could rewind time so you don’t read it.	This book would be a good resource for students who love animals, and also a good way to help teach students empathy. I highly recommend this book for your classroom or your own personal library.