
by Katherine Applegate
Recommended by Kelly Wickham Hurst and Rob Go
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Recommended by 2 sources and appears in Teen, Teen & Young Adult, and Adult.
Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he?s seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephan...
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Why recommended
Recommended by 2 sources and appears in Teen, Teen & Young Adult, and Adult.
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
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Consider The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Recommended by 8 sources.
“Reading this moves like a chain of small, eerie vignettes: lively openings set up a boy raised in a graveyard and then the narrative alternates between short adventures and quieter, reflective passages. Its useful part is a strong, child-centered mood and highly readable chapters that suit aloud reading and younger audiences. The main limitation is an episodic structure that can feel fragmentary if you prefer sustained plotting or continuous suspense.”
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.