Reading 7 · once upon a time to a visit · The One and Only Ivan

Copywork

After they captured my sister and me, they put us in a cramped, dark crate that smelled of urine and fear. Somehow I knew that in order to live, I had to let my old life die. But my sister could not let go of our home. It held her like a vine, stretching across the miles, comforting, strangling.

My story has a strange shape: a stunted beginning, an endless middle.

Read the vine sentence aloud and stop at “comforting”. Then finish it. Was home more comforting or more strangling for Tag?

For the educator Two passages. The first is four sentences from the section titled “vine”. Its first sentence opens with an “After” clause and a comma, and sets two describing words before one noun with a comma between them (“cramped, dark crate”). Its second tucks a purpose phrase, “in order to live,” inside the sentence. Its last is a simile followed by a chain of words ending in -ing, set off by commas, ending on two that pull against each other. The second passage is the one sentence in which Ivan names the shape of his story after the remembering: a colon, then two short matching phrases set side by side with a comma. The vocabulary words “cramped” and “stunted” come from these passages. The talk prompt asks the student to weigh the two last words of the first passage; the third discussion question goes back to the forest’s rule about vines, and the first written question returns to the second passage.

Discussion

Narration Tell this reading back in order, from Ruby crying in the night to Mack at the glass near morning.

Ivan tells Ruby he doesn’t remember things. Then he hears himself start a story. Did he decide to remember, or did it just happen to him? Character
Ivan says humans have no name for what he is. His mother and father had one: Mud. Does Mud still fit him? Theme
Young gorillas learn to swing on vines, and the rule is “don’t let go”. In the crate, Tag held on to home and Ivan let go. Which twin did what the forest taught? Moral reasoning
At night in Mack’s house, Ivan told himself, “Remember what happened to Tag”. Then he told himself not to think about the jungle. How could he do both at once? Character
The night Helen left, Ivan slept in Mack’s bed. Mack rumbled in his sleep, the way Ivan’s father did when all was well. Was Mack comforting Ivan, or was Ivan comforting Mack? Inference

Make a Connection Think of a story you know where a character tells a friend about something sad from long ago. Who does the telling help more, the one telling or the one listening?

Vocabulary

protector: He was everything a silverback is meant to be: a guide, a teacher, a protector. Someone who keeps others safe from harm.
tolerant: Then I would join her and we would bounce on that tolerant belly until he gave us the Grunt, the rooting-pig sound that meant Enough! Willing to put up with something without getting upset.
cramped: After they captured my sister and me, they put us in a cramped, dark crate that smelled of urine and fear. So small that there is hardly room to move.
glamorous: My life as a human was a glamorous one Fancy and exciting, the kind of life others envy.
tended: In my new life as a human, I was well tended. Looked after and cared for.
dignity: I tried to stay calm, to move with dignity. A calm, proud way of acting that earns respect.
stunted: My story has a strange shape: a stunted beginning, an endless middle. Stopped short before it could grow fully.
precisely: I’ve forgotten so many things, and yet I always know precisely how many days I’ve been in my domain. Exactly, with no mistake.

Critical thinking

Ivan has always known his count of days. Tonight he marks every one on his wall. Why does he need to see them?
Near morning, Mack tells Ivan, “We’ve been through a lot, you and me.” Have they been through it together?
Ivan stayed alive by letting his old life die. Now, to comfort Ruby, he lets himself remember it. Is remembering good for Ivan?