50 Fun Facts About The One and Only Ivan

In The One and Only Ivan, which word does Ivan add to his giant painting for Ruby's sake?

Home is the word, and Julia only works it out when the dropped pictures land spread across the floor and she spots an H.

In The One and Only Ivan, what are the me-balls that Ivan throws toward visitors who mock him?

His own dung, rolled into balls, is what Ivan flings when children spit and throw pebbles at his glass, wishing the glass were not in the way.

In The One and Only Ivan, where does Bob, the stray dog secretly living at the mall, sleep?

On a gorilla's stomach is where Bob beds down, and once the mall closes for good he trades it for life with Julia's family.

In The One and Only Ivan, how long has Ivan lived in captivity among humans when the story begins?

27 years have passed without Ivan meeting another gorilla, and he counts the time in days, by his own tally more than nine thousand of them.

In The One and Only Ivan, what is Not-Tag, the gift from Julia that Ivan sleeps beside every night?

A stuffed gorilla, Not-Tag is named for Ivan's twin sister Tag, who was captured with him as an infant and did not survive the journey.

What does Ivan call his glass enclosure in The One and Only Ivan before admitting it is a cage?

His domain is the name Ivan prefers, and the moment he finally calls it a cage is the turning point that sets him on saving Ruby.

In The One and Only Ivan, what does Julia first pass Ivan through a gap in his glass?

A crayon and a slip of paper were Julia's gift, and Mack soon began selling the drawings Ivan made with them for twenty dollars each.

In The One and Only Ivan, where do Julia and George put Ivan's giant painting for drivers to see?

On a billboard that advertises the mall's animals, the painting soon draws reporters, protesters and finally inspectors who close the mall.

The One and Only Ivan won which prize in 2013, the world's first award created for children's books?

The Newbery Medal honors the most distinguished American children's book of the year, and this win came the year after the real Ivan died aged 50.

The real gorilla behind The One and Only Ivan was finally moved from a shopping mall to which zoo?

Zoo Atlanta took Ivan in on permanent loan, and in spring 1995 he stepped outdoors there for the first time in more than a quarter of a century.

In The One and Only Ivan, the Big Top Mall and Video Arcade is named after which highway turnoff?

Exit 8 is where the mall sits, close enough to the road that Ivan can watch the cars pass from behind his glass.

Which ailment kills Stella in The One and Only Ivan after Mack says a vet costs too much?

An infected foot, an old injury that keeps flaring up, weakens Stella until the night Mack finally agrees to call a vet, which is one night too late.

In The One and Only Ivan, why does Mack buy Ruby, a baby elephant, from a circus?

To pull in bigger crowds is Mack's plan, and it works for a while once a baby elephant is added to the sign beside the road.

In The One and Only Ivan, the dying Stella asks Ivan to promise he will do what for Ruby?

Find her a better place is the heart of Stella's request, and Ivan agrees before he has any idea how a caged gorilla could manage it.

Which household item in Ivan's enclosure shows him an advert for a zoo in The One and Only Ivan?

A television keeps Ivan company, and the zoo advert he sees on it gives him the scene he later paints from memory for Ruby.

In the novel The One and Only Ivan, Mack leads the mall's daily animal shows dressed as what?

A clown is Mack's costume for the shows, while the 2020 film changes the act and makes him the circus ringmaster instead.

How does Ivan stop Julia and George from carrying off his paintings unread in The One and Only Ivan?

Beats his chest, screeches and bounces around his cage: Ivan keeps a silverback's fury for protecting others, and now he has Ruby to protect.

When Julia visits the zoo at the end of The One and Only Ivan, Bob pops his head out of what?

Her backpack hides Bob, who lives with Julia now that George has agreed to keep him, partly because her mother enjoys the dog's company.

In The One and Only Ivan, how does Ivan first feel when Julia and the visitors fuss over Ruby?

Jealous of the baby elephant's cuteness, Ivan sulks when Julia sketches her instead of him, but he is soon entertaining Ruby with pictures.

Which Oscar-winning actor voices the title gorilla in the 2020 film of The One and Only Ivan?

Sam Rockwell voices Ivan, with Danny DeVito as his best friend Bob, the stray dog who keeps sneaking into the mall.

In The One and Only Ivan, which gift from Julia does Ivan use for the pictures meant to save Ruby?

Finger paints, in three pots of yellow, red and blue, let Ivan work at night while the mall sleeps, hiding each sheet before Mack arrives.

In The One and Only Ivan, which name did Ivan's gorilla parents give him before humans renamed him?

Mud was the name he earned as an infant who made pictures with it every day, even on his own mother's back.

In The One and Only Ivan, Stella describes which real gorilla who guarded a boy fallen into his pen?

Jambo lived at Jersey Zoo, where in 1986 he stood guard over an unconscious five-year-old, placing himself between the boy and the other gorillas.

In The One and Only Ivan, which tool does Mack use to threaten Ruby, outraging protesters?

A claw-stick is what Mack swipes at Ruby, and news footage of it, along with her chains, brings animal-rights marchers to the mall.

In The One and Only Ivan, what does helping to display Ivan's painting end up costing George?

His job is the price: Mack dismisses George, although the woman from the zoo hints that there may soon be work for him there.

In The One and Only Ivan, the Big Top Mall's roadside sign wrongly shows Ivan looking how?

Angry and fierce is the mall's picture of him, but Ivan says a silverback only rages to warn his family of danger, and he has nobody to protect.

Snickers, who rides on Stella the elephant in The One and Only Ivan, is which breed of dog?

A poodle, Snickers has a larger part in the 2020 film, where she is Mack's spoiled pet and chooses to stay behind when the others escape.

In The One and Only Ivan, Ivan finally joins a family group of gorillas, known by which name?

A troop is led by one silverback, whose task is to protect it, which is the role Ivan must prove he can fill at the zoo.

In The One and Only Ivan, why does Julia spend her evenings at the Big Top Mall beside Ivan?

Her father cleans there at night, and while George works Julia does her homework and draws next to Ivan's glass.

The 2020 film of The One and Only Ivan skipped cinemas and premiered on which streaming service?

Disney+ released it on 21 August 2020 after the pandemic cancelled a cinema run, and the film was later nominated for an Oscar.

Although they are not related, Ruby gives Stella which family title in The One and Only Ivan?

Aunt is Ruby's name for the older elephant, and on the night after Stella's death she tells Ivan she misses her along with her lost family.

In The One and Only Ivan, what does Ruby do during training that leaves Mack curled up and howling?

Hits him with her trunk is Ruby's answer when Mack swipes at the air above her head, and the scene leaves George and Julia fearing for her safety.

In The One and Only Ivan, what does Ivan build at the zoo as wild gorillas do for sleeping?

A nest of branches and leaves is what wild gorillas make fresh for every sleep, yet Ivan's first try only earns grunts from the others.

In The One and Only Ivan, Mack sees a blob but Julia recognises which creature in Ivan's drawing?

A beetle had wandered into the cage, giving Ivan something black to draw, and Mack nearly stamped on it before it scuttled off.

When Ivan was small in The One and Only Ivan, Mack showed him off at the mall dressed in what?

A tuxedo was his outfit while visitors held him on their laps, a short spell of fame that ended once he grew too large for hugs.

In The One and Only Ivan, young Ivan is banned from the kitchen after painting the fridge with what?

Cake icing was his paint and the blank refrigerator door his canvas, inspired by a still life of fruit that Mack's wife had brought back.

In The One and Only Ivan, how does Ivan keep count of every day he has lived with humans?

X marks on a wall, drawn with a Magic Marker, record each day, although Ivan says he has forgotten a great deal else about his life.

The author of The One and Only Ivan co-wrote which 1990s children's series with her husband?

Animorphs ran to 54 books between 1996 and 2001, written with Michael Grant, and follows teenagers who can turn into any animal they touch.

Which star both produced the 2020 film of The One and Only Ivan and voiced Stella the elephant?

Angelina Jolie joined in 2017 as producer and voice of Stella, long before the title role was cast the following year.

Which actor plays Mack, the mall's owner, on screen in the 2020 film of The One and Only Ivan?

Bryan Cranston plays Mack as a ringmaster who raised Ivan from infancy, a human role among a cast made mostly of talking animals.

In The One and Only Ivan, which female gorilla at the zoo tests Ivan by chasing him into a corner?

Kinyani was a real gorilla too: she shared a zoo enclosure with the real Ivan before the author borrowed her name for the novel.

In The One and Only Ivan, who helps Mack raise baby Ivan in their house before walking out?

Helen is Mack's wife, and the pair treat the young gorilla like a human child, with diapers, bottles and trips to baseball games.

Bob, the stray dog of The One and Only Ivan, was dumped with his litter as a puppy where?

On a freeway is where Bob's whole litter was thrown out, which helps explain why he stays wary of people and prefers a gorilla for a friend.

The real Ivan of The One and Only Ivan was caught in the wild as a baby in which African country?

DR Congo was his birthplace around 1962, and wildlife traders sold him and a female infant to a department store's owners two years later.

The real gorilla behind The One and Only Ivan spent decades in a store in which Washington city?

Tacoma remembers him with a 600-pound bronze statue outside Point Defiance Zoo, unveiled in 2016, four years after his death.

The 1991 film The Urban Gorilla, which made the real Ivan famous, came from which organization?

National Geographic set Ivan's bare room beside a zoo gorilla relearning life outdoors, and the contrast brought a public outcry, including letters from children.

How did the real Ivan, a painter like the hero of The One and Only Ivan, often sign his pictures?

With his thumbprint was the usual signature, and he became a celebrity at his zoo, receiving birthday and holiday cards from fans for years.

In the sequel The One and Only Bob, which disaster sends Bob searching for his long-lost sister?

A hurricane wrecks the town in the 2020 sequel, which Bob narrates himself, and two more books followed in 2023 and 2024.

The 2020 film of The One and Only Ivan earned an Academy Award nomination in which category?

Best Visual Effects was the category, recognizing its computer-generated animals, but the film lost both that Oscar and a BAFTA to Tenet.

Henrietta, a baseball player invented for the film of The One and Only Ivan, is which animal?

A chicken, voiced by the singer Chaka Khan, Henrietta is one of several performers who appear in the film but not in the novel.