Reading 1 · hello to imagination

The One and Only Ivan

Trailblazers · 4th–6th

Copywork

Anger is precious. A silverback uses anger to maintain order and warn his troop of danger. When my father beat his chest, it was to say, Beware, listen, I am in charge.

Here in my domain, there is no one to protect.

Read both passages aloud. Ivan’s father beat his chest to say, “I am in charge.” What is Ivan in charge of here?

Discussion

Narration Tell back what Ivan shows you about his life at the mall. Start with his names and end with what he says about imagination.

1. Ivan lists the names people call him. Then he says, “The names are mine, but they’re not me.” What is the difference between a name that is yours and a name that is you?Theme

2. Ivan says the billboard artist made a mistake, because he is never angry. Then he says, “Anger is precious.” Why might a gorilla who is never angry call anger precious?Character

3. The seal ate one hundred pennies, and Mack said she would be fine. Ivan says only, “He was mistaken.” Why might he say so little about what happened to her?Tone

4. Ivan says his noseprint is “the first and last and only one.” Each night the glass is wiped, and he says, “then I am gone.” Why might Ivan feel gone when only a noseprint is wiped away?Inference

5. Ivan sleeps with a toy gorilla he calls Not-Tag. Then he says, “Tag was my twin sister’s name.” Why might he call the toy Not-Tag, and not just Tag?Character

Make a Connection Think of a book, a movie or a time in your own life when people had the wrong idea about someone. What did that person do about it?

Vocabulary

Crossword

1			2

		3

	4



	5			6
7

8

Across

Across 1. Grand and noble, like a king. Ivan says this is how his shadow looks when the sun warms his back.
Across 3. A place that belongs to one ruler or owner. It is Ivan’s word for the space where he lives.
Across 4. To think slowly and carefully about something, such as what might happen later.
Across 7. Coming without having been asked.
Across 8. To search around for food or supplies. Ivan uses the word for the way humans shop after the show.

Down

Down 1. To keep something going the way it should, such as order in a troop.
Down 2. Shy and not bold. Ivan thinks his pictures look this way beside Julia’s.
Down 5. To move from place to place with the seasons, as birds and some other animals do. Ivan uses it for circuses that travel from town to town.
Down 6. Worn out and very tired after a long time of work.

The words in the chapter

majestic When the sun warms my back, I cast a gorilla’s majestic shadow.
domain Here in my domain, there is no one to protect.
maintain A silverback uses anger to maintain order and warn his troop of danger.
migrate Our circus doesn’t migrate.
forage After our show, humans forage through the stores.

uninvited My life is flashing lights and pointing fingers and uninvited visitors.
weary Each night a weary man comes to wipe them away.
timid My drawings seem pale and timid next to Julia’s.
ponder They think we don’t remember our pasts or ponder our futures.

Critical thinking

1. Julia draws clouds that smile and cars that swim. Ivan draws an apple core, a banana peel and a candy wrapper. Which kind of drawing tells you more about the artist?

2. Earlier in the reading, Ivan remembers painting on his mother’s back with mud. Later, he says humans think gorillas do not “remember our pasts,” and he adds, “I suppose they have a point.” Does his memory support their point, or work against it?

3. Ivan says he has “learned not to get my hopes up.” Is that a kind of peace, or a kind of giving up?