The One and Only Family

Ivan isn’t worried about having a newborn, though he is concerned about two-year-olds. From his home in the zoo, he observes all kinds of creatures and has concluded that “whatever your species, there’s no force of nature more terrifying than a toddler tantrum” (4).

Despite his worries, Ivan is “confident [he] can manage a youngster” (5), believing that all he has to do is make rules that will then be followed.

For those wanting to see him, Ivan gives directions to his enclosure. He’s near the elephants and reptiles—“[I]f you pass the gift shop, you’ve gone too far” (6).

When Ivan was younger, he never thought that he’d grow up or become a dad. As he’s learned, “when time tells a story, surprises are the one thing you can count on” (7).

Ivan reflects on how he’s always been just Ivan but that he will soon also be called “Dad.” His friend Bob the dog calls him “big daddy,” and in the words, Ivan hears “gentle teasing and the same wonderment that [he] feel[s]” (8).

Ivan and Bob met when Bob was a stray pup and Ivan lived in a rundown combination zoo/arcade. Neither of them likes to think about that time. Instead, they focus on how good their lives are now because they are loved. After all, “that’s all that matters” (9).

Ivan is a silverback gorilla—meaning that he is meant to lead a troop. While Ivan was at the arcade zoo, the silver hair signaling his transition to adulthood sprouted on his back. He didn’t feel ready for the responsibility that it symbolized and was thankful that “on the days when [he] couldn’t, [he] had friends who believed in [him]” (10).

Ivan doesn’t know what brought him and his friends together. Whatever it was, he’s thankful and amazed at “the tangled threads that wove [them] into something stronger than [their] individual selves” (12).

Bob warns Ivan that once he becomes a father, he won’t be in charge of his time anymore. Ivan counters that, as a silverback, he is a leader and will be able to structure his days how he wants. Bob counters that Ivan is a creature of habit whose world will be turned upside down. Ivan considers this and concludes that Bob is right. For example, just that morning, Ivan “spent an entire hour delighting in the perfect symmetry of a dew-dappled alabaster rose. Then [he] ate it” (15).

Though Ivan was born in the wild, he has spent most of his life around humans. He knows that this has changed him as a gorilla, but he doesn’t quite know how. Without other gorillas to learn from, Ivan wasn’t sure how to become a gorilla. As he says, “We all learn from example. But what if there is no example to follow?” (16)

Ivan’s mate is named Kinyani. Like Ivan, she had a difficult past, which she doesn’t like to discuss. Ivan understands. He doesn’t like to talk about his past either, which makes him wonder “if everyone carries the weight of secret sadness with them” (19).

When Kinyani first got pregnant, neither she nor Ivan realized it. Both of them had put on a few pounds from eating a lot of mangos. They dismissed the weight gain, at least until “the demon dolls arrived” (20).

Maya is Ivan’s favorite zookeeper and a friend. She cares for the gorillas but also challenges them with puzzles and interesting ways to get their food, which Ivan doesn’t mind because “that’s how it would be in the wild” (22).

One day, Maya throws a stuffed toy baby gorilla into Ivan and Kinyani’s enclosure. Neither knows what to make of it or why it’s there. Finally, Kinyani asks Ivan to “get rid of that demon doll” because it freaks her out (24). Ivan argues that it reminds him of Not-Tag, a stuffed gorilla he used to have at the arcade zoo.

Ivan named his old stuffed gorilla Not-Tag after his sister, Tag. For years, Not-Tag was his best friend and a comfort. Though Ivan loved Not-Tag, he eventually gave her to Bob “when […] he needed comforting even more than [Ivan] did” (26).

Bob’s humans tried to throw Not-Tag away once. Bob rescued her just in time, and Ivan’s “still not sure he’s entirely forgiven his humans” (27).

Tag and Ivan were twins. Where Ivan was quiet and liked to draw, Tag loved to run and play tag, for which she was named. The two were nothing alike, but regardless, for Ivan, “Tag was [his] mirror, [his] mooring, [his] heart made whole” (29).

Maya brings Ivan and Kinyani another demon doll. Kinyani tosses it in a pile of poop balls, but Ivan cleans it and puts it with the other. The gorillas speculate about why Maya brought the dolls. Ivan concludes that they might be for them to hold on to, to which Kinyani replies, “That […] is why we have each other” (32).

Bob was taken in by the daughter of a man who works at Ivan’s zoo, and she sometimes brings him to visit. One day, Bob, Ivan, and their elephant friend, Ruby, are discussing the demon dolls, and Bob realizes that they are meant to prepare Ivan and Kinyani for becoming parents. Bob and Ruby discuss what to call Ivan when he becomes a dad. Ivan swears that he passes out.

Ivan runs back to Kinyani, where he breathlessly tries to tell her Bob’s theory about the dolls. Before he manages to, Kinyani looks at him with a smile that says that “[their] lives are about to forever change” (39).

Kinyani has known she’s pregnant since the vets did her checkup the other day. Though she isn’t fluent in human, she knows that “‘mama’ means the same thing for a whole lot of species” (40). When Ivan asks why she didn’t tell him, she says that she’d planned to and that, naturally, Bob beat her to it.

Ivan details how he learned to understand human language by associating “s” sounds with snakes, “t” sounds with woodpeckers, and “b” sounds with burps. Ivan has also noticed how much humans don’t get along due to misunderstandings. He concludes that “it must be exhausting, being human” (42).

Ivan explains that gorillas are very efficient communicators. Unlike humans and chimps, they don’t chatter incessantly. Rather, Ivan can use simple gestures to convey complex concepts and “say more with a carefully nuanced grunt than the average human can say with a thousand words” (43).

Kinyani grows grumpier the longer she’s pregnant. Ivan tries to help but quickly realizes that this means staying quiet. One day, he asks when the baby might come. Kinyani glares at him, and Ivan decides that he “would never be asking that particular question again” (46).

Faced with not knowing how to help Kinyani through her pregnancy, Ivan wishes that his troop was larger and had more females. Ivan makes nests, shares food, and hopes that “this little one arrives sooner rather than later” (49).

Ivan isn’t sure why humans are so fascinated by gorillas, as they aren’t fancy or interesting to watch. Mostly, Ivan stares at the humans. Sometimes, one stares back, and Ivan wonders if they are also asking “why humans are on one side of the glass and [he is] on the other” (51).

With the baby coming, the gorilla enclosure is enlarged, and a second floor is added from which Ivan can see a movie screen that humans can watch. Ivan sees animals he doesn’t know, as well as his friends, on the screen. One day, he sees himself and Kinyani and thinks, “I must say, we make a lovely couple” (53).