The One and Only Ivan discussion

I absolutely LOVED this book, but boy did it pull at my heart strings.
I love how the author, Katherine Applegate wrote from the point of view of Ivan, as well as in a "prose" type format. It was clever, funny and sad- all the great things I look for in a good book.
I have been wanting to read, The One and Only Ivan for a couple years. I bought a set a few years back, hoping to use it for my high readers in my small reading groups. I haven't used it yet, because I wanted to read it first.
I don't want to say too much and give anything away fro anyone that hasn't read it but I don't know if I would use this in my 2nd grade classroom. I think some of it might be too "heavy" for them, unless it was a more mature group. I could possibly use it for classroom read aloud and skip over a few parts.
Loved this book - highly recommend reading, if you haven't already!