“It took me some time to recognise all those human sounds, to weave words into things. But I was patient. Patient is a useful way to be when you’re an ape. Gorillas are as patient as stones. Humans, not so much.” – Ivan
Ivan is a silverback gorilla. When we meet him in The One and Only Ivan, he has already been captive in a cage for a staggering 9,855 days, equivalent to 27 years.
“I’m glad we met,” Sophie whispered. “Good friends are hard to find.”
Even with the umpteenth reading, it is hard not to think of Sophie’s Squash as being, quite possibly, the most perfect picture book ever written.
“You can do most things in Sunday school, like colouring and singing and dressing up, as long as you don’t dress up as Jesus on the cross, because Graham Roberts did that once, just in his pants, and Mrs Constantine didn’t like it.” – Anna
Anna is the nine-year old through whose eyes we relive her eventful summer holidays.
“The funny thing is, the moment I am in one country, I am homesick for the other.”
– Allen Say
Having lived as an immigrant almost all of my adult life, those words sum up my every day.
Stories That Stay With Us 