Want to learn the ideas in The One and Only Ivan better than ever? Read the world’s #1 book summary of The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, Patricia Castelao here.
Read a brief 1-Page Summary or watch video summaries curated by our expert team. Note: this book guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher or author, and we always encourage you to purchase and read the full book.
Video Summaries of The One and Only Ivan
We’ve scoured the Internet for the very best videos on The One and Only Ivan, from high-quality videos summaries to interviews or commentary by Katherine Applegate, Patricia Castelao.
1-Page Summary of The One and Only Ivan
Overview
The One and Only Ivan is about a gorilla named Ivan who lives in an enclosed area of a mall. His enclosure is next to an elephant named Stella, who has injured her foot. Another animal living with them is Bob the dog, who secretly lives there and sleeps on Ivan’s chest at night. The story starts off by introducing the reader to these characters, as well as giving background information about how they came to live together.
Mack, the owner of a mall in Seattle, dresses up as a clown and leads his animals through performances for shoppers. Julia is Mack’s daughter who does her homework while sitting next to Ivan’s domain. She gave him some paper and crayons once, which he used to draw pictures that she sold at the mall. Ivan claims not to have a good memory but Stella believes he has repressed memories from when he was wild and young. He draws a beetle one day but Mack doesn’t see it as anything other than an abstract shape; however, Julia recognizes it as such and they become friends because of their shared artistic talent.
A circus owner named Mack buys a baby elephant to attract more visitors. He doesn’t realize that the elephant’s mother was killed by poachers, and Stella, an older elephant who remembers her own traumatic experience with poachers, is upset about this new addition. However, she can’t stop him from bringing in more customers. Stella’s infected foot makes it difficult for her to walk around without pain. She asks Ivan to save Ruby (the baby elephant), but then dies before he gets a chance to do anything about it.
To console Ruby, Ivan tells a story of his life growing up in the rainforest. He played tag with his twin sister and played with mud. Humans took him away from his family and put him into a dark crate that Mack opened. Mack raised Ivan like a human in his house by making him wear diapers, drink soda, and eat junk food. Helen left one day, so Ivan grew too big for the house. Therefore, Mack put Ivan into a domain at the mall where he would stay until someone bought something from it or he died (if no one did).
Mack drinks heavily after Stella’s death, and disappears for two days. When he returns, he attempts to train Ruby to perform the same routine Stella performed. He threatens her with a claw stick, causing her to smack him with her trunk. Julia gives Ivan three pots of finger paints. Using the paints, Ivan takes control over his life and begins painting at night while Mack is asleep. One morning Mack finds the paintings stashed under Ivan’s plastic paddling pool and decides he can sell them for more than he was selling Ivan’s crayon drawings; it disappoints Ivan that Mack took Ruby’s paintings but Mack brings him more paint and paper so that he can continue painting in secret while staying out of trouble from now on. The zoo is always on TV so one day when watching an advertisement about a zoo Ivan realizes that this place is where home must be located because no one else would ever understand what it means to live in captivity (i.e., zoos).
One evening, Ivan stuck the paintings through his cage. Julia and her father didn’t understand that they were a set, so they piled them up by Mack’s office. Ivan hooted and pounded on the door of his cage to get their attention. He startled them enough for Julia to see that there was more than one painting on the floor, creating a bigger picture when put together. She noticed an H in the corner of one of the paintings after she got it off the ground again with help from George.
A billboard brings media attention and more customers to Mack’s business. Soon, protesters show up at the mall where Mack operates his enterprise. Eventually, animal welfare officials shut down Mack’s business because of the protests. Zoo officials arrive with transport boxes to take Ivan and Ruby away from their familiar environment to the zoo. Although both are reluctant to leave their home, they eventually go into the boxes for transport to a new place.
