Tag Archives: Katherine Applegate

Review: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , ,

one-and-only-ivanThe One and Only Ivan
Katherine Applegate
HarperCollins

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Ivan has a small life within the glass walls of his domain in the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. He watches TV and spends time with Bob, a stray dog, and Stella, an elephant. He makes art using crayons and paper given to him by his owner, Mack. He doesn’t think of his early life or his far away home in the jungle. And then Ruby, a baby elephant comes to the Big Top Mall, and everything changes. The mall is the wrong place for Ruby, and it’s up to Ivan to make everyone see that. He must find a way to show the humans where he and Ruby belong.

My family and I listened to an audiobook version of this story on our way home from vacation. We had listened to Flora and Ulysses a few days earlier, which was a tough act to follow. As The One and Only Ivan began, I wasn’t sure I’d like it. The beginning contains a lot of descriptions of where Ivan lives and who else lives there. It felt like not much was happening. Not much does happen until Ruby comes into the picture. Suddenly Ivan has a goal, a mission, and he won’t stop until he succeeds. For me, the story was much more entertaining at that point. My favorite character was Bob, the stray dog who always has some smart-aleck comment but who has a sweet heart underneath.

At the end of the story is an author’s note describing how Applegate was inspired by a real gorilla’s tale. Ivan was a real gorilla in captivity who spent later years of his life at the Atlanta Zoo (which I really want to visit!) I thought it was really cool to bring a real story into a novel like this.

Though the overall pace was a little slow for me, I did enjoy reading this book. It has been on my To Read list since it came out in 2012, so I’m glad to finally be able to say I read it. If you like stories featuring animals as central characters, this is a definitely must-read.

Cultural Elements
Most of the characters are animals. I can’t remember any race descriptions.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Ivan mentions that he sometimes flings dung at rude visitors. (He’s in a glass enclosure, so it’s ineffective.)

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

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Review: Eve and Adam by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant

Book Review and Content, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Sci-Fi, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Eve and Adam (Eve & Adam #1)
Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant
Feiwel and Friends
Published October 2, 2012

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After a devastating accident, Evening is sent to an advanced medical facility called Spiker Biopharmaceuticals to recover. With her mother as the director, no expense is spared to get Eve back on her feet. To keep her busy and distracted, Eve’s mother offers to pay her to test simple simulation software. Eve agrees and begins to create a boy. The most perfect boy.

As Eve’s body rockets through recovery, Eve begins to suspect that there are things her mother isn’t telling her. Then Solo, the mysterious boy who seems to live at the medical facility, offers her a dangerous gift: the truth. What Solo tells Eve could shut down the whole company and land several prominent figures, her mother included, in prison and Eve must decide whether to warn her mother, beg Solo to maintain silence, or turn in the information herself. If anyone discovers Solo’s plan, he may not live long enough for Eve to decide what to do.

A fast-paced, clever exploration of genetics and morality, Eve and Adam balances light humor with dark issues. As Eve chooses traits for her perfect man, she wrestles with popular conventions about what’s most important in a potential mate. Physical beauty? Intelligence? Bravery? How much of what Eve programs in genetically would govern who her perfect man turned out to be? Solo’s careful cataloging of the evils perpetrated by the medical facility leaves readers in no doubt as to the importance of moral laws governing medical research. Beyond the science, the authors offer a thrilling journey filled with high drama and narrow escapes as well as tenderness and empathy.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Moderate word choice, mild frequency.

Sexual Content
Eve’s friend Ashlynn lives something of a promiscuous life. Eve doesn’t share many details, but Ashlynn makes several suggestive comments, especially about certain body parts of the boy Eve is creating using an advanced computer program.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
Ashlynn relates a story to Eve in which she and her bad-boy boyfriend Maddox are attacked by gang members. Three men beat Solo savagely. A man is stabbed in the skull with a large metal sculpture.

Drug Content
Eve’s mother runs a high-tech medical facility which performs research and experimentation on disease prevention and eradication as well as genetic manipulation. Ashlynn’s boyfriend sells marijuana and lands himself in a mess of trouble both with the law and with a local gang.

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