"Hello. I am Ivan. I am a gorilla. It's not as easy as it looks." So begins Katherine Applegate's (the Animorphs series) redemptive story of friendship. The narrator, an ape named Ivan, could well take his place alongside the likes of Babe, Charlotte and Wilbur.
Ivan's friends include an elephant called Stella and Bob, "a dog of uncertain heritage." Ivan lives in the Big Top Mall off I-95 with shows three times a day, 365 days a year. His domain's walls depict "a waterfall without water and flowers without scent and trees without roots." Characters develop gradually, filtered through Ivan's wisdom and hard-won experience, His taut, unadorned language reveals his views of himself and his world: "Gorillas are patient as stones. Humans not so much." Ivan perceives his surroundings through an artist's eyes ("the late-day sun reminds me of a ripe nectarine"), and uses whatever materials frequent visitor 10-year-old Julie passes to him to draw his surroundings.
When a baby elephant, Ruby, arrives at the Big Top Mall, she acts as a catalyst for the animal clan. Ivan's wisdom, his art and his loyalty to his friends all contribute to the building suspense. The climax may be a bit over-the-top, but it befits life under the big top, and it's just as satisfying as the all-threads-tied-up resolution. The book's airy design, short chapters and Castelao's soulful black-and-white illustrations make this book especially attractive to readers just embarking on chapter books. Adults reading this aloud with children will find it just as rewarding. --Ellen Loughran, consulting librarian