#tbt: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. 320 p. HarperCollins Publishers, January, 2012. 9780061992254. (Own)

#tbt features The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. I'm breaking my ten-year or older rule again to pair this beloved title with its companion, The One and Only Bob, which was featured on Middle Grade Monday. The One and Only Ivan was published in 2012 and won the 2013 Newbery Medal. The novel is based on a true story and is told from Ivan's point of view in short chapters and gorgeous figurative language. 

As I mentioned on Monday, the book was adapted for film and will stream on Disney+ in August. The book remains popular as more than half of the copies owned by BCCLS libraries are currently checked out. Our local public library owns two copies that are both checked out. Our electronic collection has a waiting list for both the e-book and e-audio. I've read the book both with my eyes and ears. In this instance, my preference is for print due to the darling illustrations and interesting use of white space.

Middle Grade Monday and Audiobook Review: The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate. Unabridged audiobook on three compact discs. 3 3/4 hours. Read by Danny DiVito. HarperAudio, May, 2020. 9780063012646. Review of purchased audiobook.

Happy Monday TMS Readers! I hope your summer is going well and you are reading! Middle Grade Monday features The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate. You may recall that I sported a giant "Ask me about Bob" pin on my lanyard before our shift to virtual learning. 

Bob was a character in Ms. Applegate's Newbery Medal-winning, The One and Only Ivan. This companion novel picks up where Ivan left off. You need not have read The One and Only Ivan. The One and Only Bob stands alone nicely. Like Ivan, Bob is told in short chapters and paragraphs with plenty of white space. It is illustrated by Patricia Casteleo.

Bob is happy in his new life having been adopted by Julia and her family. He's loved and fed regularly; but best of all, he still gets to see Ivan and Ruby in their new home. He's a dog with few regrets except he often thinks about his sister, his littermate who was dumped with him next to a highway. When a tornado damages the zoo, Bob is ready to rise to the challenge.

This first-person, er, first-dog narration charms and excites as readers learn to love Bob as much as they do Ivan. Here is a link to Ms. Applegate reading the beginning of The One and Only Bob. Here is also a link to the movie trailer for The One and Only Ivan, which will stream on Disney+ starting August 18. 

I think I would've enjoyed The One and Only Bob more had I read it with my eyes. I learned of the audiobook and film while listening to a webcast a month or so ago. I thought it would be charming and delightful. Instead, I found Danny DiVito's narration a tad over-the-top and the pace choppy. 

Danny DiVito was the voice of Bob in the movie and so seemed to be a natural choice as narrator of the audio version. I didn't really love the audio version of The One and Only Ivan either. I read that with my eyes first and loved it. I had a voice in my head and the narrator didn't match it. I also talked about the powerful use of white space in my review that the audio cannot convey. 

In the movie trailer, DiVito's voice seemed perfect for Bob. Over the long haul of the book, it just sort of grated for me. Stick with reading this one with your eyes. 

Fact Friday and Review: Eavesdropping on Elephants by Patricia Newman

Eavesdropping on Elephants: how listening helps conservation by Patricia Newman. 56 p. Millbrook Press/ Lerner Publishing Group, August 1, 2018. 9781541515710. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

Science writer supreme, Patricia Newman's latest book brings to life the work of Katy Payne, who started Cornell University Elephant Listening Project back in 1984. After working for fifteen years studying whale sounds, she turned her attention to deciphering elephant sounds. "Katy wondered if African elephants also used infrasound. Biologists who study them had always marveled that elephant families separated by miles seem to stay in touch with one another." (p. 11) After studying Asian elephants in the Washington Park Zoo, Katy and her team spent five years recording savanna elephants in Zimbabwe. Eventually, she teamed up with an elephant researcher named Andrea Turkalo to explore these questions; "Could acoustic eavesdropping uncover more about forest elephants' habits? Could it help protect them? And could the combination of sound and behavior help scientists decode what elephants are saying to one another?" (P. 14)

With her usual narrative flair, Newman's accessible prose sifts years of complicated research into manageable bites of information accompanied by at least one full-color, well-captioned photos on every page. As usual, the publisher's design team found cool colors and design elements to tie the pages together. In this case, backgrounds in green tones and sound waves pulsing from one page to the next. There are maps to orient the reader and text boxes with charts to explain concepts. There are also elephant-shaped QR codes that readers can scan to watch videos and listen to sound clips! For those without a QR code app, there is a url for access. This extra content adds punch.

Newman always encourages young readers to be proactive in her books by providing tips for environmental stewardship. Backmatter includes a spotlight on Taegen Yardley, who as a middle school student, was inspired by the documentary, Battle for the Elephants, to advocate for elephant conservation and protection against poachers. There are two pages of source notes; a glossary and two pages of books and websites recommended for further reading, making this a great source for student research. 

Eavesdropping on Elephants is a spectacular STEM addition to any school, classroom or public library. It does double duty, as most of Newman's books do, to not only advocate for conservation efforts but highlights real scientists and their work in the field. 

Babar on Paradise Island by Laurent de Brunhoff

Babar on Paradise Island by Laurent de Brunhoff. unpgd. Abrams Books for Young Readers, May, 2014. 9781419710384. (Finished copy courtesy of publisher for review.)

I dare any adult not to start humming the theme song to Gilligan's Island. Babar and his family set out on their boat for a three hour tour, a three hour tour. When their tiny ship was tossed onto a reef, the family and friend were close enough to  an island so all safely made it to the shore of an island along with some supplies, including condensed milk. The island was lush with vegetation and seemed uninhabited. When Babar stumbles upon a dragon, he's understandably worried until the dragon says, " Visitors! That's great!" Thanks to the dragon, they are able to harvest coconuts and construct huts ensuring that they all would have a grand old time while awaiting rescue. The Old Lady even made key lime pie thanks to that rescued crate of condensed milk. Note to self: always pack condensed milk. 

The art is comfortingly familiar to fans of Babar and his family.   I found the dragon a bit bland but considering the primary audience, he's fine. Their time on the island rivals any resort vacation. Rescue is assured. The only question is whether the dragon will stay or join Babar in Celesteville. The palette is a lovely mix of pastel and brights. The simple, flowing sentences are set in a pleasing font. This is sure to please young fans of the classic elephant king.

Non-Fiction Monday: Queenie: One elephant's story by Corinne Fenton

Illustrated by Peter Gouldthorpe. 24 p. Candlewick Press, June 11, 2013. 9780763663759. 

Whenever I recollect childhood visits to the Bronx Zoo when I was a kid in the 60s, I remember feeling sadness even though these animals were most impressive to view up close. 

Even though Horton Hatches an Egg is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, Horton's travails make me terribly sad. 

When our kids were small, my husband and I took them to see The Big Apple Circus. When the elephant was trotted out, we both turned to each other with identical looks of sadness. There's just something so wrong about such a majestic beast balancing on a beach ball let alone enclosed, far away from its natural habitat.

Queenie was born in the Indian jungle sometime in the late 1800s but hunters trapped her, tied her up, hoisted her onto a steamship and sent her to a zoo in Melbourne. In 1905, when she was estimated to be nine-years-old, she was deemed old enough to carry passengers. And so, six days a week, she would wait patiently while zoo visitors climbed a stepladder and sat in a saddle called a howdah. She was a very popular attraction and folks would wait for hours for a ride. "On some days she carried more than five hundred people." 

She seemed to have special affection for one of her keepers. Children would leave treats on the fence posts. But some children would tease her and stick pins in her trunk. She was able to exact some revenge though.

The zoo made lots of money with merchandising. Queenie posters, pencils and postcards were quite popular and her birthday was celebrated every year. 

After nearly forty years of service, Queenie accidentally killed one of her zoo keepers in 1944 and the Zoo Board decided it was too unsafe for her to continue carrying passengers. Despite thousands of letters written on behalf of the elephant, she was put to sleep in 1945 due to the food shortages during the war and the high cost of feeding Queenie.

The story ends by explaining that the Melbourne Zoo as well as most zoos around the world now provides the animals in captivity habitats similar to their native habitats. 

In merely 24 pages, using gently matter-of-fact language, the author invites the reader to reflect on the issue of animals in captivity without bashing us over the head with the message. As if the story weren't sad enough, the illustrations, though gorgeous evoke the terror of her capture and delivery to the zoo, first via cart, then ship, then truck. They are realistically painted, but left unfinished around the borders giving them action a sort of spot-lit feel. In each picture, Queenie appears stoic and dignified. They just beg the reader to linger. This one is a keeper.

Non-Fiction Monday is hosted by Practically Paradise today.