The One and Only Ivan

I picked this up before I realized it was by the same author as Animorphs! I really love the writing style in this book. Ivan has a great voice - spare but still emotional. I do like stories in the alternate universe where animals have human thoughts and feelings, and this story did a good job of encouraging readers to empathize with animals and look out for their well-being.
I did unfortunately happen to be reading this book at the same time as a major news story about a kid who fell into a gorilla enclosure, which did colour my perception of the book a little bit. I think I kept myself a little further from the narrative because I kept thinking that while it's fun and easy to anthropomorphize animals, and think that we know what they're thinking, in real life it can be dangerous.
But other than that, which is completely separate from the book anyway, I really enjoyed this story. The illustrations were also really cute.