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The One and Only Ivan
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Every night Ivan paints Ruby in a place she has never been, and he cannot explain his idea even to Bob. Is his giant painting a plan or a wish?
The tension Mack sells the one picture he finds under the pool, a patch of grass, for forty dollars with a frame, and from then on Ivan paints for Mack by day and for Ruby by night; the day work sells easily, while the night work stays hidden in Not-Tag and is never quite right.
What Ivan makes for Mack and what he makes for Ruby, where each piece ends up, and what has become of Ruby in the ring.
The reading moves in short titled sections between days and nights. By day Ruby does whatever Mack asks, and he carries the claw-stick without needing to use it. By night Ivan paints piece after piece of a giant puzzle for Ruby and hides it under his pool. He tells Ruby the painting is for her but will not show it yet. The pieces come out a muddy blur, and he tells Bob he cannot explain the idea. Mack, already cutting back on food and heat, pulls one painting from under the pool and sells it, then brings more paint, so Ivan paints for Mack by day and for Ruby by night. A zoo ad gives Ivan the picture he needs, “a wild cage” with room and other elephants, and he begins painting what he sees only in his head, hiding the pieces inside Not-Tag. The picture still lacks one more thing. At the last show Ruby stumbles and does not flinch at the claw-stick. Watching Julia do her spelling homework, Ivan sees that the picture needs a word. He studies the billboard, counts, and paints the first red letter across sixteen boards. When he names the word, Bob quietly says it is not so important.
Start near the end, with the short section titled “the seven-o’clock show”. Read it aloud and ask the student what Ivan expected Ruby to do, and what it means that she did not. Then go back to the start and read on, asking at each night section what Ivan is making and who it is for.
Retell The student tells the reading back in order, in three parts: the nights before the zoo ad (the puzzle, Ruby’s question, the muddy blur, Bob’s doubts, Mack’s sale); the ad and the new way of painting; and the end, from the seven-o’clock show to the first letter. Ask for each part in two or three sentences of the student’s own.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes three or four sentences of their own about wanting to make something they cannot yet make. Ask for one that opens with an “If” clause and a comma, one that begins “Instead,” and one short simile, the way Ivan’s fingertips glow like jungle flowers.
Debate Take sides on the last written question. First make two lists from the reading: what Ivan does as if he has a plan (tries to remember the ad, hides the pieces, keeps trying, lays out the boards) and what he cannot do (explain it to Bob, say how it will help, finish it). Each side gives one reason and answers one reason from the other list. No one may use what happens in later chapters.
Purpose Close by setting the Western beside the zoo ad. In a Western, Ivan says, you know who the bad guy is supposed to be, and he says he does not understand ads. Ask why Ivan’s picture comes to him from an ad and not from the Western. Leave open whether anyone will understand the picture; the reading ends before any human has seen it.
Easier Read the sections titled “not right”, “ad” and “the seven-o’clock show” aloud together. Retell the nights in order. Talk through the first and fourth discussion questions, then answer the last written question aloud.
On level Talk through all five discussion questions in order, then have the student write answers to the three written questions in complete sentences, each with a reason and a line from the reading.
Harder Ask the student to write the last written question as an argument: a claim, the strongest reason against it, and an answer to that reason. Then have them read the billboard’s words in Mack’s voice and work out for themselves why Ivan counts to twelve.
1. Ivan paints Ruby’s picture night after night before he ever sees the zoo ad. Does he know yet what he is painting?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to look at the nights before the zoo ad. Ivan has been painting for Ruby piece by piece, and the pieces come out wrong. He tells Bob it is an idea in his head that he cannot get right. Only after the ad does he say, “It’s the picture I need to paint.” The student decides whether Ivan knew what he was making all along and could not make it, or found out only when he saw the zoo. Either way it opens the hinge: what the picture is before anyone, even Ivan, can see it.
He knew. He could see it in his head but could not get it onto the paper. He can tell the blur is wrong, so he already knows what it was meant to be.
It’s not what it’s meant to be.
It’s an idea in my head, but I can’t get it right.
He did not know yet. The pieces looked like nothing until the ad gave him a picture to paint, and after that, painting feels different to him.
It looks like nothing.
It’s the picture I need to paint.
It’s different now, when I paint.
A strong answer A strong response might say Ivan knew all along: he calls the blur “not what it’s meant to be”, so it was already meant to be something, and he tells Bob, “It’s an idea in my head”. Another might say he did not know yet, because the pieces looked “like nothing” until the ad, and only then does he say, “It’s the picture I need to paint.” A careful answer may say he knew who the picture was for before he knew what it would show.
2. Ruby asks Ivan if she has to do the shows today. When he says yes, she says, “I already knew the answer.” So why did she ask?Character
What it asks It asks the student to look inside Ruby at one small moment. Ivan has just told her he is making a painting for her, and when she asks to see it, he says “Not yet.” She pokes at her roped foot with annoyance, takes a breath, and asks whether she has to do the shows with Mack today. When Ivan says he is afraid so, she tells him it is okay; she already knew the answer. The student decides why someone asks a question when they already know the answer. It opens the hinge from Ruby’s side: asking anyway, when you know what you will hear, sits close to the line between a plan and a wish. The reading does not say what she hoped, and the card should not either.
She still hoped. Knowing the answer is not the same as giving up on it, and Ivan had just told her he was making something for her. She takes a breath first, as if asking costs her something.
It’s a painting for you, actually
She takes a breath.
Do I have to do the shows with Mack today?
She was not really asking. She knew, and she says it is okay so that Ivan, who has just said he is sorry, will not feel bad.
I’m afraid so. I’m sorry, Ruby.
“That’s okay,” she says. “I already knew the answer.”
A strong answer A strong response might say Ruby still hoped: Ivan has just told her about “a painting for you”, she pokes at her foot “with annoyance” when he says “Not yet”, and she takes a breath before she asks, as if hoping costs her something. Another might say she was not really asking, and that “That’s okay” is for Ivan, who has just said, “I’m sorry, Ruby.” A careful answer may notice that Ruby asks for two things in this short section, to see her painting and to skip the shows, and gets neither.
3. Mack walks away with the grass painting. Ivan calls it “my painting. Ruby’s painting.” Why does he say it both ways?Character
What it asks It asks the student to listen closely to four words. Late one afternoon Mack spots a corner of paper under the pool and pulls out one of the night paintings, a patch of grass. Ivan eats his orange calmly, but his heart is racing. Mack walks away with it, and Ivan names it twice: “my painting. Ruby’s painting.” The student decides what each name holds, and why Ivan needs both. He made it with his own fingers through the night, and he made it for Ruby, who has never seen it. It opens the hinge’s fault line: from here on Ivan paints for Mack by day and for Ruby by night, and the night work is Ruby’s while it is still only on Ivan’s floor and in his head. The card does not say that Ruby will ever see the giant picture; the reading ends before anyone but Bob has looked at it.
Both names are true, so the loss is double. It is Ivan’s because he made it, one piece of many, through the night. It is Ruby’s because he made it for her. Mack takes Ivan’s work and Ruby’s gift at once.
It’s a giant puzzle, and I’m making the pieces one by one.
It’s a painting for you, actually
He walks away with my painting.
The second name puts the first one right. The painting was never really Ivan’s to lose. What hurts is that Mack has taken something meant for Ruby, and the first thing Ivan tells Bob afterward is who he paints for.
These paintings are for Ruby. Every one of them.
“I don’t want to paint for Mack,” I say. “I’m painting for Ruby.”
A strong answer A strong response might say both names are true, so Mack takes two things at once: Ivan’s work, made “one by one” through the night, and Ruby’s gift, “a painting for you”, before she has even seen it. Another might say the second name puts the first one right: the paintings are “for Ruby. Every one of them.”, so what hurts is that Mack took something that was hers, and Ivan’s first words to Bob afterward are “I’m painting for Ruby.” A careful answer may notice that this was one piece of a giant puzzle, and that Ivan hides the rest so it cannot happen again.
4. Ivan says, “A perfect place would not need walls.” The zoo in the ad has a wall. Does Ruby need that wall?Theme
What it asks It asks the student to judge the zoo’s wall. In a few seconds of an ad Ivan sees elephants, old and young, with room to wander, a human family staring at them, and the wall “that says you are this and we are that”. He says a perfect place would not need walls, and then, “But it’s the place I need.” The student decides whether the wall is what is wrong with the zoo, or part of what Ruby needs in a world that is not perfect. The hinge warns against treating the zoo as a perfect answer; Ivan does not, and this question keeps the wall in view. Whether Ivan is picturing a perfect place or a possible one bears on the last written question. The reading does not say Ruby will go to this zoo, and the card should not either.
No. The wall is what makes the zoo a cage. It says the two sides will always be kept apart. Ivan wants the zoo in spite of the wall, for the room and the other elephants.
It’s a wild cage.
I see where it begins, and where it ends, the wall that says you are this and we are that and that is how it will always be.
They’re surrounded by rocks and trees and grass and room to wander.
Yes. A perfect place would not need walls, but this is not a perfect place. At the zoo the humans stay on their side and only watch. Here, nothing stands between Ruby and Mack’s claw-stick.
A perfect place would not need walls.
I see a human family staring at another kind of family.
He carries the claw-stick with him all the time now.
A strong answer A strong response might say Ruby does not need the wall: it is what makes the zoo “a wild cage”, and it says “that is how it will always be.” Ivan wants the zoo for the “room to wander” and the other elephants, in spite of the wall. Another might say the wall is part of what Ruby needs. Ivan says, “A perfect place would not need walls.” This world is not perfect, so a wall that keeps the humans on their side, only watching, may be better than a ring where Mack carries the claw-stick “all the time now.” A careful answer may notice that Ivan uses the word “need” for both the wall and the zoo.
5. Bob hears the word home and closes his eyes. He calls it “not so important” in a quiet voice. Is he talking about Ivan’s picture, or about himself?Character
What it asks It asks the student what Bob’s last line is about. Moments before, Bob has grumbled that he is not on the billboard, said that technically he does not even live here, and called himself “homeless by choice”. When Ivan names his very important word, Bob closes his eyes and says quietly that it is “not so important”. The student decides whether Bob is judging the word for Ivan’s picture or saying something about his own life. The reading gives only his words and his closed eyes. It does not say why Bob is homeless or what lies behind his answer, and the card does not either. It matters for the hinge because Bob is the first to hear the word Ivan thinks will finish the picture.
About the picture. Bob thought it was finished already: he could name everything on the floor. A word is one more thing he cannot see the point of.
There’s the zoo. There are other elephants. What’s wrong with it?
You’re being a temperamental artist.
About himself. He has just said he chose to have no home, and now he speaks quietly, with his eyes closed and none of his usual jokes. He is answering for himself, not judging the picture.
I am homeless by choice.
Bob closes his eyes.
“I miss your stomach,” Bob admits.
A strong answer A strong response might say Bob is talking about the picture: he could already see Ruby, the zoo and the other elephants on the floor and asked, “What’s wrong with it?”, so one more word does not seem important to him. Another might say he is talking about himself: he has just called himself “homeless by choice”, and now he speaks “quietly” with his eyes closed, and he keeps settling in the same warm places, from Ivan’s stomach to Not-Tag. A careful answer leaves the reason open, as the reading does.
1. At the last show, Mack reaches for the claw-stick, and Ruby “doesn’t even flinch.” She has stopped fighting Mack. Has Ivan started?
What it asks It asks the student to set Ruby beside Ivan. Mack carries the claw-stick everywhere now and does not have to use it. Ruby does whatever he asks, and when he reaches for it at the seven-o’clock show she does not flinch, though Ivan tenses, waiting for her to strike back. Meanwhile Ivan hides his paintings from Mack, and when Mack walks off with one, he imagines being the sheriff who gets rid of the bad guys. But Ivan also eats his orange calmly in front of Mack and paints for him by day. The student decides, in writing, whether Ivan’s night painting is a kind of fighting back.
Yes. Ivan does in secret what Ruby no longer does. He hides the paintings so Mack cannot take them, and when Mack takes one, he pictures himself as the sheriff.
I hide the paintings under my pool of dirty water before Mack can see them.
For a moment, I imagine what it would feel like to be the sheriff.
No. The painting is for Ruby, not against Mack. Ivan stays calm in front of Mack and works for him by day. The sheriff is only a moment of imagining.
I calmly eat an orange, ignoring him, but my heart is racing.
These paintings are for Ruby.
A strong answer A strong response takes a side and gives a reason. A student who says yes might argue that Ivan does in secret what Ruby has stopped doing: he hides the paintings “before Mack can see them”, and when Mack takes one, he imagines being the sheriff. A student who says no might point out that the paintings are “for Ruby”, not against Mack, and that Ivan eats his orange calmly in front of Mack and paints for him by day. A careful answer may notice that Ivan is the one who tenses at the show, waiting for a fight that does not come.
2. Ivan once wished he could “use human words” to say what he meant. Now he paints a letter, and Bob guesses it is a ladder. Is Ivan using human words at last?
What it asks It asks the student to judge what Ivan’s first letter is. On the night of the muddy blur, Ivan thinks that if he could use human words to say what he needs to say, it would all be easy; instead he has paint and ragged pages. Later, watching Julia groan over her spelling, he thinks, “Humans love their words”, and leaps up: his picture needs a word. But he makes it the way he makes everything, with paint: two fat lines like broom handles and one across. He only thinks “letter” is the right name, and Bob guesses it is a ladder. The student decides, in writing, whether Ivan is using human words at last or painting what a word looks like. The spelling words themselves are not the point. The card does not say whether anyone will read the word; the reading ends before any human has seen it.
Yes. A word is a word however it is made. Ivan has found the one thing his picture needs, and it is a human word, the thing he wished for on the night of the muddy blur.
If I could use human words to say what I need to say, this would all be so easy.
Humans love their words.
Because then I’ll have a word. A very important word.
Not yet. He is still painting shapes. His letter is lines like broom handles, he is not sure what letters are called, and to Bob it looks like a ladder.
Then I make two fat lines, like broom handles.
What is it? No, wait: let me guess. A ladder?
At least I think that’s what they’re called.
A strong answer A strong response takes a side and gives a reason. A student who says yes might argue that Ivan wished he could “use human words to say what I need to say,” and when he thinks, “Humans love their words”, he sets out to paint “A very important word.” A student who says no might argue that he is still painting a picture of a word: his letter is “two fat lines, like broom handles”, he only thinks “that’s what they’re called”, and Bob sees a ladder. A careful answer may ask whether a word has to be read to be a word, without claiming that any human will read this one.
3. Every night Ivan paints Ruby in a place she has never been, and he cannot explain his idea even to Bob. Is his giant painting a plan or a wish?
What it asks It asks the whole question of the reading. Every night Ivan paints Ruby among other elephants in a zoo she has never seen, and hides the pieces from Mack. He cannot explain the idea to Bob, once calls it stupid, and cannot say how the picture will get Ruby anywhere; he says only that something will come to him. Yet he works with care: he tries to remember every detail of the zoo ad, finds a new hiding place, keeps going through the wrong nights, and at the end lays out sixteen boards for a word. The student judges whether the painting is a plan or a wish, from this reading only. The earlier questions gathered the pieces: what Ivan knew before the ad, why Ruby asks when she already knows the answer, why Ivan calls the sold painting both his and Ruby’s, what the zoo’s wall is for, what Bob’s quiet answer is about, whether Ivan has started fighting back, and whether a painted letter is a human word at last.
A plan. Ivan works at it the way you work at a plan: he tries to remember every detail of the ad, hides the pieces, keeps going when they are wrong, and looks for the missing part until he finds it. He says he will know when it is ready.
Before the ad ends, I try to remember every last detail.
Something will come to me, and then I’ll know my painting is finally ready.
I lay out sixteen pieces of poster board.
A wish. Ivan cannot explain it, does not say how it will help Ruby, and hides it where no human can see it. He is painting things that are not real.
“I can’t explain it,” I tell him.
It’s a stupid idea.
Things that don’t exist.
A strong answer A strong response takes a side, gives a reason and answers the other side. A student who says plan might point to the care Ivan takes: he tries “to remember every last detail” of the ad, finds a new hiding place, keeps working through the muddy nights, and lays out sixteen boards once he knows the picture needs a word. A student who says wish might point out that Ivan says “I can’t explain it,” calls it “a stupid idea”, and is painting “Things that don’t exist.” A careful answer may weigh the words that follow, “At least, not yet.” and say whether they sound like a plan or a hope, without deciding from later chapters.