“Few true friends have I known and two were giraffes…”
West with Giraffes
by Lynda Rutledge (2021)
Wednesday Sept. 27 at 1pm
Copies available at the library.
If you prefer to buy your own copy, Main Street Bookends in Warner and
Gibson's Bookstore in Concord both offer a discount for our monthly
reads.
An emotional, rousing novel inspired by the
incredible true story of two giraffes who made headlines and won the
hearts of Depression-era America.
Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life
ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds
himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his
grave.
It’s 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow. Inspired by true events, the tale weaves real-life figures with fictional ones, including the world’s first female zoo director, a crusty old man with a past, a young female photographer with a secret, and assorted reprobates as spotty as the giraffes.
Part adventure, part historical saga, and part coming-of-age love story, West with Giraffes explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time, and a story told before it’s too late.
It’s 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow. Inspired by true events, the tale weaves real-life figures with fictional ones, including the world’s first female zoo director, a crusty old man with a past, a young female photographer with a secret, and assorted reprobates as spotty as the giraffes.
Part adventure, part historical saga, and part coming-of-age love story, West with Giraffes explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time, and a story told before it’s too late.
Additional Resources:
The author's website has some archival photos of the giraffes here (as well as discussion ideas): https://www.lyndarutledge.com/disc.htm
A video about the giraffes and their journey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q5IAFHZ96I
Biography of Belle Benchley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1ugZW1aJZ4
If you are left wanting more...we have these books and media in our collection.
Related non-fiction:
- 363.55 Loewen Sundown towns: a hidden dimension of racism
- 636 Belozerskaya The Medici giraffe: and other tales of exotic animals and power
- 779.092 Heyman Dorothea Lange: American photographs
- 978.032 Egan The worst hard time: the untold story…dust bowl
- Biography Bourke Margaret Bourke-White, by Rubin
- DVD 973.917 The Dust bowl (documentary)
- J 973.917 Sandler Picturing a nation: the Great Depression
- NH 333.75 Draves Builder of men: life in C.C.C. camps of NH (Local History Room)
Related Fiction:
- Curtis Bud, not Buddy (Juvenile fiction)
- Gruen Water for elephants (we have the audiobook, too)
- Hannah The four winds (we have the audiobook, too)
- Hesse Out of the dust (Juvenile fiction)
- Ledgard Giraffe
- Loewenstein Funeral train
- Meadows I will send rain
- Moyes The giver of stars
- Silver Mary Coin
- Steinbeck The grapes of wrath (we also have the DVD movie)
- Towles The Lincoln highway
