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  Staff Pick--" Ivan is a gorilla at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade and rarely misses or even remembers life before there. He is friends with Stella (elephant) and Bob (stray dog). To increase dwindling profits, the owner buys Ruby, a young elephant. Ruby becomes attached to Stella and the others but misses her birth family. Stella asks Ivan to promise her something and Ivan agrees. He worries however, that he will not be able to keep his promise to Stella until he gets an idea while painting and seeing the world through Ruby's eyes! This is a truly heartwarming story for any animal lover.
       Ages 8 & up "


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Synopsis of The One and Only Ivan:  

Winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal and a #1 New York Times bestseller, this stirring and unforgettable novel from renowned author Katherine Applegate celebrates the transformative power of unexpected friendships. Inspired by the true story of a captive gorilla known as Ivan, this illustrated novel is told from the point-of-view of Ivan himself.
Having spent 27 years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes.


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