The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Rutledge, Lynda. West With Giraffes. Lake Union. 2021.

Lynda Rutledge’s West With Giraffes is written in the first person point of view, and utilizes both past and present tenses. The past tense is used in Woody’s recounting of the story, and the present tense is used in sections that describe Woody’s writing process in the convalescent home. The novel is divided into 16 chapters named after the place where the chapter’s events transpire and are intermingled with newspaper clippings, telegrams and postcards. The following summary relies on the present tense.

As his life closes in on him in a convalescent home bed, Woody hears about the impending extinction of giraffes and punches the TV. He realizes that he must tell his story for the sake of the animals he loved so much, and so that Red’s daughter Augie Ann will know her mother’s true story.

Woodrow Wilson Nickel is a 17 year old orphan boy who is forced to leave his home after his family’s tragic death during the Dust Bowl. He finds his only living relative, a cousin in New York, where he works until his cousin’s death in a hurricane. Down on his luck and unsure of his future, Woody sees the Old Man tending to two giraffes who almost died in the hurricane. He resolves to follow them to California.

While waiting for the giraffe rig to begin its journey, Woody meets Red and falls in love with her at first sight. He uses a stolen motorcycle to follow the giraffes, and when the Old Man’s driver, Earl, suddenly quits his job, Woody propositions him to be the new driver. The Old Man reluctantly accepts, but only wants Woody to stay on for the first part of the journey.

Woody displays an unusual gift for working with animals, and the Old Man agrees to keep him on as the driver for the duration of the journey. Red follows the giraffe rig taking pictures she hopes will be published in Life magazine. She and Woody slowly form a relationship, but she does not share Woody’s affections. Unbeknownst to him, she is a married woman and is being pursued by the police for stealing her husband’s car and crossing state lines without a male chauffeur.

In Tennessee, Woody and the Old Man get the giraffe rig stuck in a precarious position beneath a low bridge and are unable to get it out by themselves. They experience the kindness of strangers when a poor black man named Moses enlists his entire family to remove the truck from under the bridge. The family generously feeds them and buys them a new set of tires, getting them safely back on the road. Red shares with Woody that she suffers from a broken heart.

Later down the road, a circus ringmaster named Percival Bowles bribes Woody with money, and convinces him to open the giraffe crate. Woody accepts his bribe, nearly killing Wild Girl in the process. To Woody’s astonishment, the Old Man forgives him and allows him to stay on as the driver. Woody learns that Red is pregnant, and that she lied about being a photographer for Life magazine.

The road to California leads straight through Woody’s hometown of Arcadia, Texas. He is forced to visit his family’s homesite when a sheriff closes the highway due to the threat of flash flooding. While visiting his parent’s home, the flash flood threatens to topple the giraffe rig and kill Woody and the Old Man. They are all saved when Red wedges her car against the truck and prevents it from overturning. She loses all of her photographs in the flood and her car is destroyed.

Disheartened, Red buys a ticket back east in Phoenix to be reunited with her husband Lionel. After reaching California, Woody steals a motorcycle and tries to follow Red back east. He is arrested in Arizona and sent to fight in the second World War. When he returns years later, he learns that Red died from her heart condition, but not before giving birth to a daughter, Augie Ann. When he returns to the zoo, the Old Man has also recently passed away. Cyrus Badger shares with Woody the depth of the Old Man’s love for him, and Woody comes to California home.

After his death, Woody’s last wish is fulfilled, and his manuscripts are delivered to Augie Ann. At the end of the novel, she sits down to read the true story of her mother’s amazing journey across the continent with the giraffes.