West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

Amy   

historical fiction

In West With Giraffes, Woodrow Wilson Nickel, aka Woody Nickel, is 105 years old when he puts to paper the story that most defined his life.  As a teenager, he had been the sole survivor of his family from the Dust Bowl and, alone in the world, he happened to witness the landing of a ship in NYC that had struggled through a hurricane to bring two giraffes to an American zoo. He decided to follow the truck transporting them from NY to the San Diego Zoo with the hope that he could find a future in California.

The bulk of the novel was Woody’s telling of the time in his youth when he traveled west with the giraffes. He was brave and determined to do anything to survive.  He stumbled through life’s situations as they happened, doing the best he could and thinking on his feet. He was hapless but kept a positive attitude. His journey included a fun cast of characters and adventures.  Sometimes, his stories held a lot of humor. 

However, the main story is wrapped in a delicious outer package—the more current storyline where centenarian Woody is writing down his story.  And that is the part that really gives this novel heart.  The ending makes the rest of the novel so much better.  Woody was fun to get to know and I couldn’t help rooting for him. He was a good guy who flew by the seat of his pants from one day to the next. His intentions were good. And he had a heart of gold.

Lynda Rutledge took a true event—the arrival of giraffes in NYC in 1938 after surviving a hurricane at sea (aka the Yankee Clipper) and their road trip to the Pacific coast—and created a fictional story around it.  I thought she did a fabulous job.  She touched on so much American history during Woody’s life and I learned quite a few things I hadn’t known before.  For animal lovers, especially, this book is heartwarming.