'I think all writers write from the time they're really young, and you just start asking the question, 'What if?' What if you were sitting here next to me and you turned into a cat? I have a story. You can also tweet your questions to becoming a writer Please send us your questions for the author. It's the summer of 1964 in Hanging Moss, Miss., and 11-year-old Gloriana Hamphill is about to learn a lot about bigotry, loyalty and bravery. Next month we'll be reading Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood.

It's a lonely life, but he does have a few loyal friends, including a highly opinionated dog, an aging elephant and, eventually, a baby elephant who sets Ivan's life on an entirely new course. Ivan is always on display, but it's not a one-way street Ivan watches all the people watching him, and his observations about humans are among the greatest delights in the book. It's not as easy as it looks.' It's not easy because Ivan lives far from the wild at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. The book begins with a simple introduction: 'Hello. That penetrating gaze, that intelligence it's hard not to be anthropomorphic when you're looking at a great ape - at any primate - but especially with gorillas.

'I think, though, it's the eyes that get me. 'Their manual dexterity, it's so human,' she says. Applegate joined NPR's Michele Norris at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., to talk about Ivan, and what she finds so captivating about primates. The real-life Ivan finally made his way to the Atlanta Zoo. It tells the story of a gorilla who spent 27 years in a shopping mall in Tacoma, Wash. Our June pick is The One and Only Ivan, a Newbery Medal-winning book by Katherine Applegate. The school year is drawing to a close, but NPR's Backseat Book Club has plenty of reading lined up for the summer. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The One and Only Ivan Author Katherine Applegate

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