Monday, October 20, 2014

Ivan: the remarkable true story of the shopping mall gorilla - ESSENTIAL

Applegate, Katherine Ivan: the remarkable true story of the shopping mall gorilla, illustrated by G. Brian Karas.  PICTURE BOOK.  Clarion (Houghton), 2014.  $18.  Content: G.  

When Ivan was a baby, he was snatched from his mother and brought to a shopping mall in Tacoma Washington, where he lived encaged for 27 years.  Finally people realized that Ivan’s treatment was inhumane and protested until Ivan was adopted into a zoo, because he would never be able to be re-introduced to the wild.  

I would like to say that we know so much better now, but in my own community there is a sad little animal display in the middle of an amusement park.  We should know better and this book should be read by many, many people.  IT would make an excellent starter in many grades for a lesson about stewardship towards animals.

EL, MS - ESSENTIAL.  Cindy - Library Teacher

No comments: