West with Giraffes

 By Lynda Rutledge

Lake Union     2021

356 pages     Historical Fiction

Woodrow Wilson Nickel (or Woody Nickel as he is called) is a very old man in a nursing home who has a story that he has to get told before he dies. And what a story it is!

When he was a teenager, a victim of the Dust Bowl era in the Texas Panhandle, Woody attempts to travel to New York to meet his cousin, his only living relative, but the cousin can’t be found once Woody gets to the city. While in New York, he witnesses an historical event so bizarre, his whole life is changed. A pair of giraffes, on their way to be the first giraffes at the San Diego Zoo, miraculously survive a hurricane while they are crossing the Atlantic. Absolutely fascinated by the experience of seeing the giraffes, Woody decides to follow the truck to California.

A series of circumstances finds him driving the truck across the country for the zookeeper--the “old man “-- across the country. What follows is one of the craziest journeys ever—every moment compelling and dramatic. Some of the events are historically accurate, and some come from the mind of Lynda Rutledge, the author. But as the reader goes West with Giraffes, we are led to imagine what the real trip was like. Throughout the journey, Woody, the boy, becomes Woody, the man. He learns to care for the giraffes, learns to appreciate the old man, and falls in love with a young photographer who is following the truck.

Rutledge backs up her crazy story with newspaper articles that appeared during the actual trip as well as the wired messages the old man sent to Belle Jennings Benchley, the head zookeeper at the San Diego Zoo. And Benchley is one of the incredible factual characters in the story. She was the first female zookeeper in the country, and she was responsible for making the San Diego Zoo one of the most famous zoos in the world. Rutledge says that she first came across the story when she was in the zoo’s archives working on another story. Apparently the story of the giraffes' cross country trip made the newspapers across the country every day of their 12-day trip, and Rutledge’s imagination took hold as she was reading the newspaper accounts. The result of her imagination is West with Giraffes. And by the way, I found this picture of the actual truck and giraffes. This trip really did happen!

Rutledge tells the story beautifully—which is an important asset to the book, because it would be easy to get bogged down in the details of a 12-day trip. We are able to see Woody maturing before our eyes, at the same time that we witness all the dangers the truck and the giraffes are experiencing. One of my favorite moments in the book happens while in the desert. Woody and the old man look up to see that they are being followed by a flock of birds and both men and giraffes are struck by the magic of that moment—remarkable in its peacefulness. A meant-to-be moment.

This is my book club’s reading for the month. I would not have picked it out on my own, and I am very grateful for the choice. I can’t wait to ask my friend how she heard about the book and to discuss it Thursday night with my book club.  

Lynda Rutledge website. By the way, Rutledge has a new book coming out in January, Mockingbird Summer. It is another historical fiction book taking place in 1964. Wait? Is it possible that 1964 could be history? Makes me feel like old man Woody.