Falls Library Book Group: West with Giraffes

The book selection for this month will be West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge (2021).

The Falls Book Group is one of the Free Library's longest running programs and is open to all. Interested in joining? For reading selections or to attend a meeting, please reach out to the adult librarian, with your name and contact info; a member of the book group will get back to you. If you are interested in joining or have questions, feel free to call Falls and ask for the branch manager. Our Book Group meets generally on the last Monday of the month, in the downstairs meeting room. Please enter via the Midvale entrance.

An emotional, rousing novel inspired by the incredible true story of two giraffes who made headlines and won the hearts of Depression-era America.

“Few true friends have I known and two were giraffes…”

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.

Host or Publisher Falls of Schuylkill Library, Free Library of Phila