This is a time when heavy rain 100 miles away might close the only road west, for fear of flash flooding, leaving hundreds of travelers stranded in the middle of nowhere. Before major roads were peppered with food and hotel chains. This is a book about a cross-country drive in a much less populated country, before there was a national highway system. What I loved best about the book was the chance to travel back in time (to NOT so long ago) and see how different the country was just 80 years ago.

Lofty and Patches, the two giraffes in the story There are also those who will pay any price to possess them. Because the traveling animals are not just objects of curiosity all along the way. Woody’s deep connection with the NOT-always gentle giants and his own desperate desire to get to California make him a loyal employee and together Jones and Woody wind up working hard and facing danger to ensure the safe arrival of the two giraffes. Turns out the boy, Woody (the book’s narrator), has an affinity for animals and this novel is really his coming of age story. Jones to supervise the move and, after a series of unexpected developments, he hires a 17 year-old orphan to drive the oversized vehicle. There they begin a cross country trip to their new home at the San Diego Zoo, followed all the way by newspaper accounts and a public weary of bad economic and political news. Two African giraffes, who barely survive the 1938 Hurricane while crossing the Atlantic, make it to New York City. Join the discussion here at the scheduled time.Based on a true story, WEST WITH GIRAFFES is a journey through the United States in the late 1930s. 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. 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.

Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl-rowdy Woodrow. What follows is a 12-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave. Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away.

Books by lynda rutledge