The One and Only Bob

The middle-grade novel The One and Only Bob (2020) is the New York Times bestselling sequel to Katherine Applegate’s highly distinguished novel The One and Only Ivan (2012). It is illustrated by Patricia Castelao. The story follows the protagonist Bob, a former stray dog who braves a perilous journey to rescue others with the help of his friends, Ivan the gorilla and Ruby the elephant. Throughout his quest, Bob learns to heal from his painful past and finds the courage to trust humans again. The story presents themes of healing and forgiveness, unlikely heroism, and humans’ complex relationship with the animal world.

Plot Summary

The One and Only Bob tells the story of the lovable and roguish mutt Bob, who was abandoned as a puppy and spent the beginning of his life fending for himself as a stray. He stumbles upon animal enclosures in a closed, dark mall and ends up befriending a kind and gentle gorilla called Ivan. Ivan and some of the other animals (including a young elephant called Ruby) are relocated to an animal sanctuary. Fortunately, Bob is rehomed nearby with the family of the head groundskeeper of the sanctuary.

Bob’s primary owner, Julia, struggles to train the cheeky and headstrong Bob, who resists fully trusting his new family, fearing that he will be abandoned again. Bob also struggles with his new identity; he wonders if he has become soft after a year of living in comfort and luxury, away from the hardship of the streets.

One day while visiting Ivan at the sanctuary (known as simply “the park”), Bob is picked up by hurricane winds and blown away from Julia and her father, George. Bob must confront his fears about his own cowardice when he is forced to make his way across the storm-damaged park back to his friends and family. He comforts and saves a number of animals, including returning a baby sloth to its mother, and comforting Ivan as he is rescued from beneath pieces of concrete and metal.

Bob must muster his courage even more when he makes his way across the flooded and storming city to the animal shelter, where he thought he heard his long-lost sister, Boss, barking. Bob finds Boss, and Ivan and Ruby follow Bob’s scent to the shelter. Ivan, Ruby, and Bob help to save Boss and the other animals in the shelter from rapidly rising flood water, and Bob then volunteers to go to find Boss’s lost puppy. Bob finds the puppy, whom he dubs “Rowdy,” and manages to rescue him both from flood water and from the jaws of the terrifying wolf Kimu!

Julia and her family pick up Bob and Rowdy, and at this point Bob opens himself to fully loving and trusting his new owners. Rowdy comes home with Bob to live with Julia and her family. To Bob’s relief and delight, Boss, whom Bob lost track of after the storm, also comes to live with the family.