Katherine Applegate: Hi, this is Katherine Applegate, and I'm the author of The One and Only Ivan. I'm going to tell you a little bit about how I came to write the book, and then I'll read a short excerpt.

The One and Only Ivan is the story of a gorilla who lives in a cage in a shopping mall for 27 years. It's a strange idea for a book you might argue, but it's made all the more strange by the fact that it's based on a true story. There really is an Ivan. He's a 50-something, 400 plus pound silverback gorilla living out his days peacefully, and hopefully happily, with others of his own kind at Zoo Atlanta, which houses the largest gorilla population in the US. I first came across Ivan's story in a New York Times article in 1993 so it was quite a while ago. It had the caption, "A gorilla sulks in a mall as his future is debated."

I was appalled and fascinated by Ivan's story, and I continued to follow it all the while wondering if I could find a way to tell his tale in a book. It took me a long time to figure out how to do that, how to write from the point of view of a gorilla. Many years, and honestly many failed attempts later, I decided that Ivan would be a poetic sort as he says, a philosopher, a nap taker. I used prose quite sparingly so that although The One and Only Ivan looks like a long book at 300 pages or so, it's actually quite a quick read. There's a lot of white space, a lot of emptiness on each page in part because that seemed like a tangible way to reflect Ivan's isolation.

I actually love doing research for books particularly because I love animals. Researching primate behavior was fascinating to me. I learned a lot about silverbacks and most of it refuted all the things I'd assumed about them for many years. They're very peaceful, contemplative, very human sometimes in their behaviors. One of my favorite things was checking online various videos and other resources, mostly from zoos, and there are some wonderful clips of gorillas playing tag, which is to me absolutely delightful to watch. It's exactly like watching humans play. Some chapters are just a few lines long as you're about to hear.

"Chapter one: Name

Hello, I am Ivan. I am a gorilla. It's not as easy as it looks. People call me the freeway gorilla, the ape at exit eight, the one and only Ivan, mighty silverback. The names are mine, but they're not me. I am Ivan, just Ivan, only Ivan. Humans waste words. They toss them like banana peels, and leave them to rot. Everyone knows the peels are the best part. I suppose you think gorillas can't understand you. Of course, you also probably think we can't walk upright. Try knuckle walking for an hour. You tell me, which way is more fun?"