Dear Great Book Guru,    I am very excited about the upcoming Spring Fest in Sea Cliff- I have heard it described as a village-wide block party and then again as a intimate version of Mini-Mart. It will take place along Sea Cliff Avenue from Arata's to Partners with Village organizations and artists and artisans set up to greet and meet the citizenry with lots and lots of live music from 11am to 4pm. Then- can it get better- yes!- because at 4pm we will all march over to Clifton Park  for a concert with more than eighty musicians performing- a perfect setting for a picnic supper. Well,  do you think there be time for a good book?  Swooning Over a Sunday in Sea Cliff

Dear Swooning,  What a great day awaits us and, yes, I have a wonderful, wonderful book for you to read :THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN  by Katherine Applegate.  This is a  short, simple novel that appeals to all ages and whose message lingers long after the book is finished. Ivan is a silverback gorilla who long ago left his native land and has lived in a shopping mall circus for thirty years. He has been more  or less content, but when a young elephant Ruby joins the circus, he sees how wretched his own life has been and he is consumed by the desire to make Ruby's  better. Family becomes an overwhelming interest of Ivan's as he tries to make sense of his existence. While the book is written from Ivan's point of view, we can see human  parallels .  A thought-provoking book based on a real life story…