This Newbery Medal Winner is a wonderful chapter book by local author Katherine Applegate. Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create the story of Ivan, an easygoing gorilla living in a glass enclosure in a mall and video arcade. He rarely misses the jungle and thinks more about TV, his friends and art. That all changes when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family. No young reader should miss Ivan's first-person narration in this story of friendship, art and hope.