Here’s another book you’ve likely never heard of. For some reason, I get more pleasure out of reading and reviewing out-of-print, out-of-mind books than I do the mainstream stuff. Mining through forgotten books like this, there’s always the off-chance that I might discover a gem. I’d consider this book a gem—semi-precious, sure, but a gem nonetheless.
I found A View from the Zoo in a give-away pile and noticed that it was an animal-themed devotional with a back-cover blurb that promised a little humor to boot: “Life really is a zoo—and Gary Richmond has the stories to prove it!” That intrigued me enough to try it out on my kids as a recent wake-up book (meaning, I read a chapter or two to my kids to wake them up for school and to start their day off right).
The stories in this book come from veteran zookeeper Gary Richmond during his time at the Los Angeles Zoo in the 1960s-’80s. Gary’s church friends knew he was a gifted storyteller with a jocular personality and fond of regaling them with his witty tales of true-life adventures among the zoo animals (and patrons), even finding ways to make them spiritually applicable. His fellow pastors at the First Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton, CA (Paul Sailhamer and the more famous Chuck Swindoll) encouraged him to jot these captivating life lessons down into a book and market them to a broader audience. He did, and I’m glad he did—these stories are educational, funny, and generally have a solid spiritual application that serves as a good reminder for the day ahead.
None of these stories were necessarily roll-on-the-floor funny, but I did often catch myself chuckling at his precarious situations. My kids voted his black-widow story from childhood the best of the bunch, and Id have to agree.
Each story in this book ends with a Bible verse (or several) that drive “the moral of the story” home, and one can easily see how Richmond’s personality and story-telling ability made him a popular speaker back in the day. He reminds me a touch of James Herriot (James Alfred Wright) but with a Christian flare, and those who appreciated Herriot’s many animal stories from his career as a vet in the English countryside will likely enjoy this book as well.
©2024 E.T.