The One & Only Ivan

“It’s hard to put into words. Gorillas are not complainers. We’re dreamers, poets, philosophers, nap takers.”
– Katherine Applegate

In This Kit You’ll Find:

• 8 copies of The One & Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
• 2 copies of A Mom for Umande by Maria Faulconer
• 2 copies of Little Beauty by Anthony Browne
• 2 copies of Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate
• 1 copy of the Discussion Questions (you may keep)
• Book Sign-Up to keep track of books (you may keep)
• One & Only Ivan Crossword Puzzle (you may keep)
• A Mom for Umande Coloring Pages (you may keep)

Themes for Discussion:

• The One & Only Ivan: Animal rights, man vs. the natural world, freedom & confinement, identity, personal responsibility, art & creativity, storytelling, mother figures, loneliness, memory & the past
• Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla: Animal rights, helping others
• Little Beauty: Loneliness, animals, building friendships, communicating difficult emotions, helping others
• A Mom for Umande: Human-animal relationships, building friendships, adoption, mother figures, helping others

About the Book:

• The One & Only Ivan: When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the mall, he decides that he must find her a better life. (Novelist)
• Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla: This is the true story of Ivan, known as the Shopping Mall Gorilla, who lived alone in a small cage for almost 30 years before being relocated to the gorilla habitat at ZooAtlanta. (Novelist)
• Little Beauty: When a gorilla who knows sign language tells his keepers that he is lonely, they bring him a very special friend. (Novelist)
• A Mom for Umande: Because his own mother is too young to take care of him, Umande, a newborn gorilla, is fed and cuddled by human zookeepers until a surrogate mother is found. (Novelist)

You’ll Like It If You Like:

Illustrated chapter books, books that touch your life and heart and leave a lasting impression, books teaching life lessons, animal friendships, descriptive writing

Reading Level:

• The One & Only Ivan: Read Together, Grades 3 – 5; Read Alone, Grades 4 – 7
• Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla, Little Beauty, & A Mom for Umande: Ages 0 – 8 years

Fun things To Do & Explore at Your Book Club:

• Watch: The book trailer for The One & Only Ivan:
  
• Watch: The author, Katherine Applegate, talk about the true story behind Ivan:
  
• Solve: For One & Only Ivan readers, Using the worksheets included in the folder, complete the crossword puzzle sheets with questions about details from the book.
• Research: Head to the sites, Defenders of Wildlife and ZooAtlanta to learn more fun facts about gorillas and specifically, the real Ivan. Share your findings with each other.
• Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla Readers: For all ages, Ivan enjoyed creating his fingerprint with paints and making his mark.
• Create your own fingerprint art like Ivan. Use these ideas!
• A Mom for Umande Readers: Color images of Umande and his friends using the coloring worksheets included in the folder.
• Little Beauty Readers: Create and discuss a list of other emotions that Gorilla could have had other than angry, sad or happy. Do you ever feel those emotions? What do you do?