K. A. Applegate
Author of The One and Only Ivan
About the Author
Katherine Applegate was born in Michigan on July 19, 1956. She writes science fiction, young adult romances, and pop-up books. She is the author of the Making Waves, Making Out, and Roscoe Riley Rules series. She writes the Animorphs, Everworld, and Remnants series under the pen name K. A. show more Applegate. She also writes under the pen names of C. Archer, Catherine Kendall and Elizabeth Benning. She has received numerous awards including a Golden Duck Award (Eleanor Cameron Award for Middle Grades) for The Message in 1997, the SCBWI 2008 Golden Kite Award for Best Fiction and the Bank Street 2008 Josette Frank Award for Home of the Brave, and the 2013 Newbery Medal and the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award (Illinois) for The One and Only Ivan. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by K. A. Applegate
Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla (2014) — Author — 516 copies, 28 reviews
Tan Lines: Sand, Surf, and Secrets; Rays, Romance, and Rivalry; Beaches, Boys, and Betrayal (Summer) (2008) 132 copies, 5 reviews
Disney's Christmas With All the Trimmings: Original Stories and Crafts from Mickey Mouse and Friends (1994) 19 copies
The Portable Emerson 19 copies
Newbery Award Favorite Library 8 Book Box Set : Charlotte's Web, The One and Only Ivan, Ella Enchanted, Dragonwings (2020) — Contributor — 18 copies
ANIMORPHS Set #32-37 (#32-The Separation, #33-The Illusion, #34-The Prophecy, #35-The Proposal, #36-The Mutation, #37-The Weakness) (1999) 13 copies
The Capture (Animorphs Graphix #6) 6 copies
Animorphs Set 19-22 (#19 - The Departure, #20 - The Discovery, #21 - The Threat, #22 - The Solution) (1998) 6 copies
Animorphs Boxed Set #11: Books 41-44 4 copies
ANIMORPHS: MEGAMORPHS, 4 Volumes: 1, 2, 3, 4: The Andalite's Gift / In the Time of Dinosaurs / Elfangor's Secret / Back to Before (2000) 3 copies
Animorphs #15: Escape 3 copies
Animorphs Boxed Set: The Conspiracy / The Separation / The Illusion / The Prophecy / The Proposal / The Mutation (2000) 3 copies
Animorphs Boxed Set #12: Books 45-48 3 copies
Hondenstad 2 copies
Explore the World's of K.A. Applegate: Animorphs, 1: The Invasion, Everworlds, 1: Search for Senna, Remnants, 1: The Mayflower Project (2002) 2 copies
Animorphs #53 - The Answer 1 copy
Animorphs #51 - The Absolute 1 copy
Animorphs #50 - The Ultimate 1 copy
Animorphs #33 - The Illusion 1 copy
Animorphs #38 - The Arrival 1 copy
Animorphs #39 - The Hidden 1 copy
Discover The Destroyer (Everworld #5) by Applegate, K.A. (January 1, 2000) Mass Market Paperback 1 copy
Animorphs #36 - The Mutation 1 copy
Book One: Ending 1 copy
Animorphs #37 - The Weakness 1 copy
Animorphs #6 - The Capture 1 copy
Animorphs #40 - The Other 1 copy
Animorphs #34 - The Prophecy 1 copy
Animporhs - The Attack 1 copy
Animorphs #29 - The Sickness 1 copy
Animorphs #30 - The Reunion 1 copy
Animorphs #8 - The Alien 1 copy
Animorphs #9 - The Secret 1 copy
Animprohs #12 - The Raction 1 copy
Animorphs #41 - The Familiar 1 copy
Animorphs #7 - The Stranger 1 copy
Animorphs #42 - The Journey 1 copy
Animorphs # 43 - The Test 1 copy
Animorphs #48 - The Return 1 copy
Animorphs #2 - The Visitor 1 copy
Animorphs # 4 - The Message 1 copy
Animorphs #5 - The Predator 1 copy
Animorphs #35 - The Proposal 1 copy
Old Moore's Horoscopes and Daily Astral Diaries: Aquarius (Old Moore's 2001 horoscope) (2000) 1 copy
Tas vienintelis Aivenhas 1 copy
Animorphs Series Boxed Set 1 copy
Ever World 1 copy
Animorphs: The First Journal 1 copy
White Fang 1 copy
Animorphus Series 38 Titles! 1 copy
Land of the Lost 1 copy
The One and Only Ivan, Bob, and Ruby Collection: The One and Only Ivan, The One and Only Bob, and The One and Only Ruby (2025) 1 copy
Endling #2 1 copy
Endling - Weggefährten und Freunde: Spannende Fantasy für Mädchen und Jungen ab 11 (Die Endling-Trilogie, Band 2) (2020) 1 copy
Perro y cachorro / Katherine Applegate ; ilustrado por Charlie Alder ; [traducido por Juan Crisóbal Álvarez] 1 copy, 1 review
Animorphs Book Set 1 copy
The Animorphs series 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Applegate, Katherine Alice
- Other names
- Applegate, Katherine
Archer, C.
Benning, Elizabeth
Blair, L.E.
Kendall, Katherine
Kincaid, Beth (show all 11)
Michaels, Katherine
Plumb, A.R.
Pollari, Pat
Stephens, Nicholas
Young, Alida E - Birthdate
- 1956-07-19
- Gender
- female
- Relationships
- Grant, Michael (husband) (4)
- Short biography
- Katherine Applegate is the author of The One and Only Ivan, winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal. Her novel Crenshaw spent over twenty weeks on the New York Times children's bestseller list, and her first middle-grade stand-alone novel, the award-winning Home of the Brave, continues to be included on state reading lists, summer reading lists, and class reading lists.
Katherine has written three picture books: The Buffalo Storm; The Remarkable True Story of Ivan, the Shopping Mall Gorilla (often used as a companion book to The One and Only Ivan for younger readers); and Sometimes You Fly (publishing in spring, 2018). For beginning readers, Katherine wrote Roscoe Riley Rules, a seven-book series.
With her husband, Michael Grant, Katherine co-wrote Animorphs, a long-running series that has sold over 35 million books worldwide.
Katherine lives in Marin County, California, with her family and assorted pets. - Nationality
- USA (birth)
- Birthplace
- Michigan, USA
- Places of residence
- Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
Michigan, USA
Texas, USA
Florida, USA
Irvine, California, USA
Minnesota, USA (show all 8)
Illinois, USA
Pelago, Italy - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Discussions
Found: YA horse book series in Name that Book (February 2025)
80s-90s preteen series fic; mismatched gal pals; tough girl Roxie or Randi w/ black spiky hair; pink in Name that Book (June 2013)
YA Science fiction novel in Name that Book (August 2010)
Reviews
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate is many things: a verse novel, a tear-jerker, based on a true story. Ivan is a gorilla who has spent nearly 30 years as the main attraction in a run-down circus-themed shopping mall. He's been alone so long that, for all he knows, he might be the only gorilla left in the world -- despite the fact that, at his age, he should be the head of a gorilla family, resposible for protecting and leading his pack. His best friends are a scrappy homeless dog show more named Bob, and Stella, the elephant who is the mall's other main attraction. Ivan and Stella are resigned to living life in their small cages, but when the mall's owner Mack brings in Ruby, a baby elephant, Ivan finds that he does have something worth protecting, after all. How can he save Ruby from a lifetime of imprisonment at the shopping mall?
Ivan is a gorilla of great understanding but few words, so the spare format of the verse novel suits this book well. It's written as a middle-grade novel, and though it does contain a few emotionally distressing scenes, there are no overt instances of cruelty such as you might expect in an adult novel. The characters are complex -- even Mack, the owner of the shopping mall, is not simply painted as the Bad Guy. The book tackles a lot of thought-provoking issues about animal rights, without ever becoming too preachy -- and though I shed a few tears in the middle, the ending of the story is ultimately hopeful. show less
Ivan is a gorilla of great understanding but few words, so the spare format of the verse novel suits this book well. It's written as a middle-grade novel, and though it does contain a few emotionally distressing scenes, there are no overt instances of cruelty such as you might expect in an adult novel. The characters are complex -- even Mack, the owner of the shopping mall, is not simply painted as the Bad Guy. The book tackles a lot of thought-provoking issues about animal rights, without ever becoming too preachy -- and though I shed a few tears in the middle, the ending of the story is ultimately hopeful. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
It’s the 1990s and normal teens Jake, Cassie, Rachel, Tobias, and Marco are doing normal 90s teen things like playing arcade games at the mall and cutting through abandoned construction sites when they see an actual space ship and meet an actual alien. With its dying breaths the alien tells them the truth - Earth is already being taken over by Yeerks, parasitic slugs that enter people’s ears and take over their brains. Anyone could already be infected. To help the teens fight the show more invasion, the alien gives them the power to change into any animal they touch. Luckily Cassie’s parents are veterinarians (and also the local zoo seems to have zero security whatsoever, not even, uh, locks). Their first step in the resistance they are now waging, alone, as children, is to find out what people they thought they could trust are already infected - a teacher? A parent? A police officer?
With the obvious caveat that it’s a 30-year-old middle-grade book, this still hits so hard. Those poor kids are all alone trying to fight a fascist takeover! The animal anatomy & facts are pretty good, zoo procedures aside, and I loved the graphic descriptions of human bodies changing into animal ones. The descriptions of the different kinds of aliens are great, too, if you don’t question how a 12-foot-long giant centipede got to the middle of town undetected.
I kind of want to reread more of them, especially since I didn’t read them in order as a kid, but the middle-grade writing is very grating. It’s so passive and full of filler words. Maybe audiobooks? show less
With the obvious caveat that it’s a 30-year-old middle-grade book, this still hits so hard. Those poor kids are all alone trying to fight a fascist takeover! The animal anatomy & facts are pretty good, zoo procedures aside, and I loved the graphic descriptions of human bodies changing into animal ones. The descriptions of the different kinds of aliens are great, too, if you don’t question how a 12-foot-long giant centipede got to the middle of town undetected.
I kind of want to reread more of them, especially since I didn’t read them in order as a kid, but the middle-grade writing is very grating. It’s so passive and full of filler words. Maybe audiobooks? show less
A grouchy, tough-guy cat called Zephyrina lives with Ukrainian refugees Elizabeta and Dasha in their home, which also serves as the Second Chances Home for the Tossed and Treasured: Zephyrina, finds (or steals) lost children's toys, and Elizabeta and Dasha try to reunite them with their people; failing that, they clean them up and rehome them. The titular WWI-era Pocket Bear was first: they discovered him in a cabinet when they moved in, and he now serves as captain for all the other toys, show more who come alive at night (a la Toy Story, Toys Go Out, Book Buddies, etc.). But when Zephyrina digs a rare old teddy bear - perhaps the first-ever teddy bear - out of a dumpster, antique hunter "Picky Vicky" swoops in to try to make a profit, and Zeph has to take action to retrieve Berwon and arrange a satisfying solution for him and for Pocket.
See also: The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo, Growing Home by Beth Ferry, Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins, The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest
Quotes
If humans realized that toys are living, feeling things, who knows what would happen?
Kids would rise to the occasion, I'm guessing But in my experience, you just can't trust most grown-ups. (25)
"Because you're rare," I said...
"But everyone is rare," Berwon pointed out. "We're all one of a kind." (157)
"She is a hero. Not a big, important hero. But there are many kinds of heroes." (173)
"What about Dasha, Pocket? She loves you."
"She loves you, too. You just need to let her." He smiled. "It's not so hard, once you get the hang of it." (236) show less
See also: The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo, Growing Home by Beth Ferry, Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins, The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest
Quotes
If humans realized that toys are living, feeling things, who knows what would happen?
Kids would rise to the occasion, I'm guessing But in my experience, you just can't trust most grown-ups. (25)
"Because you're rare," I said...
"But everyone is rare," Berwon pointed out. "We're all one of a kind." (157)
"She is a hero. Not a big, important hero. But there are many kinds of heroes." (173)
"What about Dasha, Pocket? She loves you."
"She loves you, too. You just need to let her." He smiled. "It's not so hard, once you get the hang of it." (236) show less
4.5
I didn’t know what this was about going into it, picked it up on a whim based on the cover (which is silly, I know, but I’m a sucker for kid’s books with charming, soft, warm covers..what can I say?)
I was pleasantly surprised, however, at how emotional it was! I don’t think I’ve ever read a book aimed at children that was so forthcoming on what it means to care for animals, and how they are beings with feelings and that we should consider those feelings.
There were many show more moments where I found myself getting emotional at how nice of a guy Ivan is, how Julia wanted to do the right thing, and how Julia’s father was the adult who chose to support her in doing that right thing even though it was hard for him. Katherine Applegate also chose to not paint the “circus/zookeeper,” Mack, as this devil of a person. He definitely wasn’t the nicest guy, but he didn’t seem to be out to be violent intentionally, it came more from a place of survival I think. A very realistic character.
There is more I could say but I think it’s enough to just say, read this book! If you have children, I would very much recommend this to them as well, it discusses a serious topic, but to the level which children should be informed and no deeper. A perfect opportunity for conversations to be started about the treatment of animals.
Bob is also pretty hilarious..for a talking dog anyway..: show less
I didn’t know what this was about going into it, picked it up on a whim based on the cover (which is silly, I know, but I’m a sucker for kid’s books with charming, soft, warm covers..what can I say?)
I was pleasantly surprised, however, at how emotional it was! I don’t think I’ve ever read a book aimed at children that was so forthcoming on what it means to care for animals, and how they are beings with feelings and that we should consider those feelings.
There were many show more moments where I found myself getting emotional at how nice of a guy Ivan is, how Julia wanted to do the right thing, and how Julia’s father was the adult who chose to support her in doing that right thing even though it was hard for him. Katherine Applegate also chose to not paint the “circus/zookeeper,” Mack, as this devil of a person. He definitely wasn’t the nicest guy, but he didn’t seem to be out to be violent intentionally, it came more from a place of survival I think. A very realistic character.
There is more I could say but I think it’s enough to just say, read this book! If you have children, I would very much recommend this to them as well, it discusses a serious topic, but to the level which children should be informed and no deeper. A perfect opportunity for conversations to be started about the treatment of animals.
Bob is also pretty hilarious..for a talking dog anyway..: show less
Lists
Books Read in 2019 (62)
Favorite Series (1)
READ in 2024 (1)
4th Grade Books (1)
Ocean Setting (1)
Female Author (1)
2010s (1)
Overdue Podcast (1)
Cats in Fiction (2)
Read in 2007 (2)
Books to Chapel (3)
Five star books (4)
Newbery Adjacent (7)
1990s (8)
Read in 2003 (9)
KID BOOKS (2)
Science Fiction (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 448
- Also by
- 6
- Members
- 89,495
- Popularity
- #114
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 1,537
- ISBNs
- 2,128
- Languages
- 26
- Favorited
- 42
