Looking Through the Characters' Eyes and Learning about Animal Rights

One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, has been read by many children at the Young Readers' Club. Every time we have a discussion, something new gets revealed.

About the book

One and Only Ivan is an award winning book about Ivan, a gorilla in captivity, trying to save a baby elephant. The book is set in a mall that also hosts circus performances. The book helps readers to know what it was like before animal rights laws came into existence.

Discussions at the Young Readers' Club

"The story is still moving in a sad direction. I think that it is going to have a sad ending. Ivan will not be able to save Ruby," mused one of the readers. Ruby is a baby elephant who has been brought in the hope that the circus and hence the mall would get more revenue. A circus is demanding for animals as they must entertain to attract crowds.

When asked what might be considered a somewhat 'dumb' question - "Do you prefer happy or sad endings?" she responded saying that happy endings are good, but this one might just have a sad one. As if something just clicked in her mind, her eyes brightened up and she said, "What if it is the other way round? Ruby saves Ivan?"

Morals vs enabling the young reader to determine what they would like to take away from a story.

Every young reader has had a different take away from the book so far. Some have felt sad for Stella, the old elephant who went through a lot of hardship in the book while being trained for circus. Others found Ivan to be a strong character who shows that being strong doesn't necessarily mean freedom from doubt or fear. The current batch reading the book finds it new that a circus and a sad looking zoo like concept can exist in a mall.

To enable them to ponder more about the central theme of the book, animal rights — right to freedom to live in the wild instead of being confined in human built enclosure, a picture was created using AI. The readers were encouraged to focus on Ivan, the gorilla's side and share what they could 'see' and think a bit deeper about what they were seeing.

AI generated image for purpose of discussion based on the book, One and Only Ivan

It was interesting to see how two readers looking at the same picture saw very different details.

Young Reader 1:

I see a big board that says, "Big Top Mall". There are people walking around. There is a tyre hanging in the middle for Ivan the gorilla to play with. Ivan is a silver back gorilla. I think he is called that because his back looks like silver. He is looking away from the people. He is not in the mood to play. He lives here. There is hay on the floor that can serve as a soft bed to sleep on. The floor looks cemented and hence must be hard.

Young Reader 2:

I see Ivan looking sad. He is looking at Ruby and probably thinking what he can do to help her. Being confined to his own enclosure, there is not much he can do. But he wants to. He has put up a drawing perhaps to help Ruby. She can see a tree and feel like she is near a tree perhaps? Ivan is kind.

Being confined must be the hardest experience for wild animals

The discussion helped the young readers to dive into the book with even more interest and curiosity to understand why this happens. The book helps readers to see the mall owner/ caretaker's perspective as well as that of the animals. Whose actions are justified is a constant debate. But children have unianimously supported animal welfare no matter what. That's probably the main goal of this book and it seems like Katherine Applegate has managed to reach out to the children at the Young Readers' Club and made them ponder. Isn't that powerful and absolutely wonderful?