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The One and Only Ivan
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Stella limps up the ramp to bring Ruby out of the truck. When Mack raises a broom, she steps in front of Ruby, and then she nudges Ruby into the cage. Was Stella protecting Ruby, or helping Mack?
The tension When the baby’s trunk pokes out of the truck, Ivan is “glad for Stella,” but she is “not glad at all,” and to his “It will be okay” she answers, “it will never, ever be okay.”
Notice what one arrival means to each creature. Mack has bought a baby elephant to sell tickets, Ivan feels pushed aside, and Stella, who tells a story about a silverback who stood watch, knows what the chains and the tricks are for.
The animals of the Big Top Mall smell change in the air. Stella hears a baby elephant crying before the truck comes, and while they wait she tells Ivan and Bob the Jambo story. Mack welcomes Ruby as someone who will sell tickets, Stella limps up the ramp to bring her out, and when Mack raises a broom Stella steps in front of her. Julia turns her attention to Ruby, Ivan sulks and bites her pencil in half, and that night Stella tells him how the circus chained Ruby. The reading ends with Ivan thinking “of all the tricks Stella has learned.”
Open with Ivan’s guess that Stella is “just hoping,” and her answer, “not hoping. Not at all.” Ask the student what Stella might hear that the others cannot, then read on to see how each creature takes the news.
Retell The student tells the reading back in order: the smell of change, Stella hearing the baby, the Jambo story and “Just lucky, I guess,” Mack’s welcome, Stella on the ramp, the broom and the closing door, Ivan’s sulk, and the talk under the full moon. Listen for the chains and the tricks to come last.
Imitate the author After copying both passages, the student writes three sentences that begin with the same word, as Stella’s do with “So” in the passage, giving three reasons for something that happens in a story the student knows.
Debate Ask the student to take one side of the last written question, then answer the other side with a line from the reading. Listen for Mack’s own words, Stella’s own words, and what Stella does at the door, and not only how Stella seems to feel.
Purpose The aim is a reader who weighs what an act does for each person it touches before calling it kind or obedient, and who leaves the reading’s last line as open as Applegate does.
Easier Read aloud together Stella’s talk about hearing the baby, then the scenes from the truck’s arrival to the clang of the door, and talk through discussion questions 1 and 3 only. Let the student answer the last written question aloud by naming one thing Stella does and who it helps.
On level Talk through all four discussion questions, then have the student write one critical-thinking answer in complete sentences, with a line from the reading to back each claim.
Harder Ask the student to answer the last written question from the other side as well, as if arguing with a friend who chose the opposite, and then say which answer the reading supports better.
1. Ivan hears only cars and sun bears. He tells Stella, “You’re just hoping,” and she answers softly, “not hoping. Not at all.” Why might Stella say she is not hoping?Character
What it asks It asks why Stella turns down the word “hoping”: because she already hears the baby and knows the baby is coming, or because a baby elephant coming here is nothing to hope for.
She is listening. She hears a real cry and knows it, so there is nothing to hope for.
I can hear her
She’s crying for her mother.
Stella closes her eyes.
She is dreading it. Hoping is for good news, and she is not glad when the baby comes.
I’m glad for Stella. But when I glance at her, I see she is not glad at all.
A strong answer A strong response might say that Stella is listening, not wishing. She hears the baby “crying for her mother.” She answers Ivan softly with her eyes closed, as if she is listening to something he cannot reach. Another good reading is that hoping is for good news, and Stella is “not glad at all” when the truck comes. The reading does not say how she knows, so a strong answer stays with what she hears and how she answers.
2. Stella says a good zoo is “how humans make amends.” Bob asks why she and Ivan are not in a zoo. Stella smiles sadly. “Just lucky, I guess,” she says. Why might she call it luck?Theme
What it asks It asks the student to hear two things in one word: what “lucky” means when Stella has just described a safe place and the animals live in a mall.
She means the opposite. Living in a mall and not in a good zoo is bad luck, and her sad smile shows it.
A safe place to be. It has room to roam and humans who don’t hurt.
She smiles sadly with her eyes, just a little, the way only elephants can do.
She means it is chance. Nothing Stella or Ivan did put them in a mall and not in a good zoo, and “I guess” shows she has no better reason to give.
Just lucky, I guess
A strong answer A strong response might start with what Stella says a good zoo has: “room to roam and humans who don’t hurt.” She and Ivan live in a mall, Stella behind “rusty metal bars.” A sad “lucky” could be a bitter joke. Another good reading is that she means chance alone put them here, and her “I guess” shows she has no better reason. The reading never says a zoo is coming, so a strong answer stays with the words Stella speaks.
3. Inside the truck, Ruby makes a noise “like one of the little trumpets they sell at the gift store.” Why might the author compare that noise to a toy?Author's choice
What it asks It asks why the sound Ruby makes in the truck is given a toy’s name, and what the comparison makes the reader see: a small baby, or one more thing the mall has to sell.
It makes the sound small and young. That fits how Ivan meets the baby: when her trunk first pokes out, he is “glad for Stella.” But Stella has already heard a baby “crying for her mother.”
Ruby makes a noise too, like one of the little trumpets they sell at the gift store.
I’m glad for Stella.
She’s crying for her mother.
It ties Ruby to the things the mall sells. Mack has just said she will sell tickets, and now even her voice sounds like something from the gift store shelf.
This gal is gonna sell us some tickets.
Ruby makes a noise too, like one of the little trumpets they sell at the gift store.
A strong answer A strong response might say the toy makes Ruby’s sound small and young. A little trumpet is a high, thin sound, and Ivan hears it that way. That fits how he meets the baby: when her trunk first pokes out, he is “glad for Stella.” Stella, though, has heard a baby “crying for her mother.” Another good reading notices the word “sell” in Mack’s welcome, just before: “This gal is gonna sell us some tickets.” Now Ruby’s voice is compared to something sold at the gift store, as if she were goods too. A strong answer may hold both, and it does not claim to know what Ruby feels, since the reading only shows what she does.
4. Bob tells Ivan, “You’re old news.” Later Julia rolls a pencil across his floor. “You can draw the baby elephant too,” she says. Why might Ivan bite the pencil in half?Character
What it asks It asks why Ivan answers Julia’s kind offer with his teeth, and whether the bitten pencil is a joke, a hurt, or both.
He is hurt and jealous. Everyone has turned to Ruby, and the bite is his answer to being “old news.”
I move to the corner of my domain to pout.
She barely talks to me.
He is insulted by the offer. The word “too” makes the baby the main subject and him an extra.
You can draw the baby elephant too
I grunt again, a dignified, indifferent grunt.
A strong answer A strong response might read the bite as hurt. Julia has watched and drawn Ruby, Stella is too busy to talk, and Bob has told him he is “old news.” An offer to draw “the baby elephant too” can sound like an afterthought. Ivan gives “a dignified, indifferent grunt.” Biting the pencil in half shows he is not indifferent. Another good reading is that the scene is meant to be funny, and both can be true: a strong answer notices the hurt under the joke.
1. In Stella’s story, Jambo “stood watch” over a fallen boy. The crowd waited, “expecting the worst.” Then Jambo “led his troop away.” Was leaving part of guarding the boy, or the end of it?
What it asks It asks whether Jambo’s walking away belongs to his guarding of the boy or closes it, and so what guarding can include.
Leaving was part of guarding. The crowd was sure Jambo would hurt the boy. By taking his troop away, he showed he meant no harm and made room for the men to come down and carry the boy out.
The crowd waited, hushed, expecting the worst.
Jambo led his troop away.
Men came down on ropes and whisked the child to waiting arms.
Leaving was the end of it. Jambo stood watch while the boy lay hurt. Once the boy woke and his own humans were calling to him, the boy was theirs to save, not Jambo’s.
He smelled the boy’s pain, and then he stood watch.
When the boy awoke, his humans cried out, ‘Stay still! Don’t move!’
A strong answer A strong response takes a side and gives reasons from the story. One path says leaving was part of guarding. The crowd was “expecting the worst.” By taking his troop away, Jambo let the men come down on ropes and get the boy out without a fight. Another path says the guarding ended when the boy woke and his own humans called to him, so the boy was theirs to save from then on. A strong answer uses the order of Jambo’s acts to say what guarding means. Since Stella admits she sometimes confuses the facts, it treats the story as Stella tells it.
2. Stella says the circus chained Ruby to the floor, “All four feet. Twenty-three hours a day.” Ivan looks for a reason it could be a good idea. He always tries to give humans “the benefit of the doubt.” Is that a wise habit for Ivan, or a risky one?
What it asks It asks the student to judge Ivan’s habit of trusting humans, using what he has seen of them in this reading and what Stella tells him.
It is wise. Not every human is cruel, and Julia, who sees she has been ignoring Ivan and brings him paper, has earned his trust.
Julia thinks for a moment, then smiles. She walks over to my domain, to the spot in the corner where the glass is broken. She slides papers through.
It is risky. Trust keeps Ivan from seeing what Stella already knows, and Mack and the circus trainers show that humans can do harm.
Mack gives Ruby a shove, but she doesn’t budge.
The circus trainers chained her to the floor, Ivan.
“Why would they do that?” I finally ask.
A strong answer A strong response chooses a side and uses both kinds of evidence. Trust looks wise when Julia sees she has been ignoring Ivan and slides paper through the broken glass. It looks risky when Mack shoves Ruby and raises a broom, and when Ivan has to ask “Why would they do that?” while Stella already knows the answer. A thoughtful reader might say trust is wise for Ivan’s own peace but risky if it keeps him from seeing what Stella sees, and the reading leaves that open.
3. Stella limps up the ramp to bring Ruby out of the truck. When Mack raises a broom, she steps in front of Ruby, and then she nudges Ruby into the cage. Was Stella protecting Ruby, or helping Mack?
What it asks It asks the student to judge three of Stella’s acts, the climb, the shield and the nudge, and to decide whether together they protect Ruby or serve Mack.
Stella is protecting Ruby. She goes up on a bleeding foot, stands in front of the broom, and goes in beside her.
Instantly, Stella steps in front of Ruby to shield her.
Only then does Stella enter.
I see two trunks entwined. I hear Stella whispering.
Stella is helping Mack. He counts on her to coax Ruby out, and she is the one who gets Ruby through his door.
Maybe she can coax the stupid brat out of the truck.
Gently but firmly, using her trunk, she nudges Ruby into her domain.
Mack slams the door shut with a clang.
A strong answer A strong response takes a side and answers the other. One path says Stella protects Ruby: she climbs on a bleeding foot, shields her from the broom, and goes in with her so Ruby is not alone. Another says she helps Mack. He hopes for a way to get Ruby out, saying, “Maybe she can coax the stupid brat out of the truck.” The plan works because of Stella, and her nudge gets Ruby through his door. A strong answer may also notice that she is “considering” before she nudges, and may ask whether giving way, as Jambo did when he took his troop away, is part of guarding or only part of obeying. The reading does not say what happens to Ruby or what Stella would have done otherwise, so the answer stays with what she does.