I just finished reading this Children's book last night...and wow, I loved it! A book with a happy ending, yep giving that away because this book has emotional aspects to it that goes along with animal cruelty, some pages are hard to get through if you are an animal lover like me.
Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. He has lived at Top Mall and Video Arcade since he was a young gorilla. He is an artist, his drawings of bananas bring in $30 for his owner, Mack. He doesn't think about his past or what life in the jungle would be like...until later in the story. Then, Ivan makes a promise and his life takes a turn.
Ivan meets a new act to the Mall, Ruby a baby elephant. He begins to see life in a new way, through the eyes of his young friend. Ivan starts to think and create with his own thoughts.
Katherine Applegate, best known for her series, "Animorphs", transforms a real-life story of Ivan into a fiction based children's story. Ivan currently lives at the Atlanta Zoo and signs his artwork with his thumbprint. The other animal characters are created by Katherine, which enhance this well-written story, that should help teach us a lesson about compassion and animal cruelty.