Reviewed by sstaley on
At this point, I'm still debating whether or not I'll be reading it to my class. I think I'll suggest to the parents of my students to read it together at home with their child. There will be many subjects brought up that would be better discussed at home with 7-8-year-olds.
I do want to say that I LOVED this story! It is told from Ivan's Point of View and he quickly stole this reader's heart. Each of the animals in this story from Ivan, to the elderly elephant Stella, the young baby elephant Ruby, and the gruff stray dog Bob all have such unique personalities. These wonderful animal characters are wrapped up in huge underlying subjects of poaching, animal trafficking, and inhumane living conditions. Even with such adult topics, this story is told so that children can understand the feelings of the animals and the situations they find themselves living in. There is humor in the story and the theme of friendship and sacrifice. This novel does make you think so much about humans and the way we have handled the treatment of animals in the wild and in captivity.
I know I will read this story again. It really touched my heart and I loved learning about the real-life Ivan, who passed away in August of 2012. He was 50 years old. He spent 18 years at the Atlantic Zoo in a wonderful environment with other gorillas. I highly recommend this book as a family read-aloud.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 30 December, 2019: Finished reading
- 30 December, 2019: Reviewed