Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla

After spending twenty-seven years behind the glass walls of a shopping mall, Ivan has grown used to people watching him. All day long he thinks about their strange behavior, about the chimpanzees that are so different from gorillas, about a stray dog named Bob who loves to sneak into Ivan’s enclosure and sleep on his belly, about TV shows the caretaker sometimes turns on for him. But most of all, Ivan thinks about painting—how to convey on paper the taste of mango or the rustle of leaves. His life flows steadily, with small joys of its own. But one day, a new participant appears at the circus—a baby elephant named Ruby. Unexpectedly, Ivan begins to look at life in the shopping mall in a new way. From time to time memories from his past in the jungle start surfacing in his mind. And unwilling to let the little elephant repeat his fate, Ivan decides—whatever it takes—to give her a better life.

The plot of this book is based on real events that happened to the gorilla Ivan, who became famous for his drawings made in “finger painting” technique.

For younger school age.