Rating: WORTHY!
The only other Katherine Applegate I've reviewed was Eve and Adam, which I rated a worthy read back in February 2013, shortly after I started writing this blog.
I listened to the audio book for this. It's a very short book, less than four hours listening time. The reading is by Adam Grupper, whom I've never encountered before. In some ways his voice sounded perfectly right, in others not so much, but on balance, he did a really decent job with it. I particularly liked his take on Bob, the terrier mutt, and Ruby, the newbie elephant.
I liked this novel despite it being a Newbery winner. I read some of the negative reviews for this, and they seemed not to get it. There were reviews stating things like, "animals don't talk to one another". Well, duhh! That's exactly what I mean by them not getting it. The fact is that animals do talk to one another - they just don't do it in plain English, but they do communicate, particularly elephants, dogs and great apes (and yes, you are a great ape biologically speaking whether your ignorant religion likes it or not. Humans are genetically closer to chimpanzees than rats are to mice). The thing these reviewers are missing is that this actually isn't a story about animals which can talk to one another, it's how animals might talk to one another if they could. More realistically, it's a commentary on how humans treat animals spoken from the perspective of some of the animals we abuse so badly.
The ignorance among some reviewers about the smarts and sensitivity of the animals portrayed here was scary, and indicative of the second-rate science education which is proudly delivered to US citizens. Yes, gorillas, elephants, and dogs are sensitive. Yes, they do feel things in ways similar to humans. No, they don't speak English, but yes, gorillas (and chimpanzees, and Orangutans) have been taught to express themselves using American Sign Language for the deaf. Look up Koko and Kanzi and those are just two names off the top of my head. Yes, gorillas and elephants (and chimpanzees) paint pictures with paints and draw pictures with crayons in real life. Deal with it.
I started listening to this with a feeling of déjà vu, like I'd read it before, but either I didn't read the whole thing, or I read something else that was similar to this, yet not this, because after that initial feeling, the story went in ways I didn't expect, which diminished the feeling considerably. I thought this was a story where the animals would bust out of their confines and go on the run. That's not how it ended. The fact that they didn't break out made it more realistic and more sad, for me.
The story is told in first person from the perspective of Ivan, a silverback mountain gorilla who has been in captivity since infancy after he and his sister were kidnapped and his parents killed and turned into ashtrays. His sister died from the shock of confinement, and Ivan has been alone since. Since then, the only other wildlife he has seen has been on the cranky TV he has view of from his cage.
Ivan is stoic and limited in his perceptions. He's an ape of few words, although he's allowed poetic expression from time to time. He knows only what he sees, and doesn't think too much about what was or what will be. Most of what he sees is from behind the glass window into the mall, where he looks at ill-behaved passers-by and starers-in. He's allowed crayons and paper which he uses to draw what he sees, although both his artistic skill and vision are limited. His pictures are sold in a store near his cage. In his heyday, he had fans (the 'one and only' comes from the billboard on a highway near the mall), but now, the Big Top Mall and Video Arcade has gone downhill, and there are fewer visitors and even less money for maintenance, food, and treats.
Ivan's closest friends are Stella the elephant, who is sick from an infected foot the owner can't afford to get treated. Nevertheless she's expected to perform once-a-day for paying visitors, where she walks around while a poodle runs on her back and head. The placid Ivan does his turn there too. Nothing changes. Until young Ruby arrives - an infant version of, and replacement for, Stella. Ruby kicks things up a notch and the questions she peppers Ivan with are hilarious. Ivan gets "outside" news from Bob, the terrier mix who sleeps with him at night, but spends his time foraging and avoiding humans during the day. For me it was Bob and Ruby, not Ivan and Stella, who made this story. They represented hope which the gorilla and older elephant no longer had.
The blurb suggests that Ivan takes action to improve things. He doesn't. He has no power. Instead, he has actions performed upon him, and in the end, although far from ideal, these actions do improve his life and Ruby's considerably. I recommend this as a worthy read and a good discussion book to share with children of all ages.
