when: start 5/21/13 end 5/24/13
how: as an ebook on my ipad (purchased through the website of my local independent book seller of course!)
thoughts: I loved this book. I cried at the end, tears of joy for Ivan and Ruby and Bob and Julia. I love that this was inspired by an actual gorilla who spent over 20 years of his life living at a shopping mall. There wasn't an elephant in the real gorilla's life like there is in the book, but the real gorilla did paint like Ivan does. This book is about friendship and the ethical treatment of animals and imagining the mental and emotional worlds of animals and the role of art in creating empathy for the experiences of others. I loved it. This book won the Newbery Medal for 2013, by the way.
Click on the book image to go to the book's official website.
review haiku:
Ivan and Ruby
captive in a shopping mall
art sets them free
