Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan
I've been meaning to read this since it won the Newbery, except that I've also been avoiding reading it since it won the Newbery, because I cannot handle books about sad animals. And there are some very sad animals in this book. The titular Ivan is a gorilla who lives in a cage at a ramshackle old mall, along with an elderly elephant and a stray dog who likes to hang out in his cage. Ivan is an artist, thanks to the janitor's daughter, who supplies him with paper and crayons, which adds an interesting perspective to the mix. The narrative voice is really strong, too. Anyway, I basically cried through the entire second half of this. A/A-.
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