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The Do Not Read Report, vol. 7 – Ivan the gorilla

ivan the gorilla

This is the seventh week in The Do Not Read Report. My hope with these posts is to save you from unwittingly handing a book to your kids, not knowing what is inside.

Today’s book is one which was made into a movie and is also a Newberry Award winner. It turns out that these are usually both a bad signs. This particular book camouflages pretty well if you just scan it, but once you start closely reading it is quickly apparent that it is filled with horrors you would never want to put into your child’s head.

THIS WEEK’S BOOK SERIES:

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Summary: This is the fictionally-enhanced story of an actual Gorilla who lived in a mall (yes, a mall). A series of really terrible things happen to Ivan the gorilla, a couple of elephants, and a dog. With the help of the daughter of one of the caretakers, they mount a publicity campaign that leads to animal rights activists descending to remove the surviving animals to a zoo.

THIS IS A BOOK THAT IS SURE TO CAUSE NIGHTMARES AND SELF-HATRED IN YOUR YOUNG CHILD.

This book series is suggested for ages 8 to 10 by the publisher which is frankly flabbergasting when you take a look below at some of the highlights of the story.

Lexile score: 570L (ages 8 to 10)

CONTAINS:

(1) “Humans. Sometimes they make chimps look smart.” 
(2) “Humans. Rats have bigger hearts. Roaches have kinder souls. Flies have-” 
(3) “Humans speak too much. They chatter like chimps, crowding the world with their noise even when they have nothing to say.” 
(4) “With enough time, you can get used to almost anything.” 
(5) “A good zoo is how humans make amends.” 
(6) “My family tree spreads wide as well. I am a great ape, and you are a great ape, and so are chimpanzees and orangutans and bonobos, all of us distant and distrustful cousins.

I know this is troubling.

I too find it hard to believe there is a connection across time and space, linking me to a race of ill-mannered clowns.

Chimps. There’s no excuse for them.” 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Katherine Applegate is an author of fiction for young children, whose works include Endling, Crenshaw, Home of the Brave, wishtree, the Roscoe Riley Rules series, Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla, The Buffalo Storm, and the Animorphs series. If you plan to let your child read any of these, I highly recommend reading each book carefully yourself first.


I PLAN TO HIGHLIGHT AT LEAST ONE BOOK A WEEK IN THE DO NOT READ REPORT. DO YOU HAVE A BOOK YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO HIGHLIGHT NEXT WEEK? IF SO, LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.

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