You will love this donkey

I wasn’t sure that I was going to like Running with Sherman by Christopher McDougall. The front cover indicated the book was all about the donkey pictured on the cover. But this book is about a lot more than the donkey, Sherman. And even Sherman’s story is fascinating.

Sherman was terribly treated and nearly dead when Chris and his wife, Mika, rescued him. It took a lot of work to save Sherman, but they did. And much of the story involves a very long race with donkeys through Colorado’s mountains.

Throughout the book, Chris tells us many more stories from an autistic young girl to a 20 year old college student who tries to kill himself. These two, as well as others in the book, turn their lives around by spending lots of time with farm animals, including donkeys.

Chris lives close to an Amish community, many of which become his close friends. And I enjoyed those stories too. I was especially inspired by the story of Zeke, the young man who had tried to kill himself. When Zeke’s mother sent him to Chris for help, Chris connected him with Sherman, and they became best buddies. I think Sherman saved Zeke’s life, and Zeke saved Sherman’s life.

There are so many interesting stories in this book that I can’t begin to tell you about all of them. But trust me, you’ll be fascinated by all of them, and you will love that donkey Sherman.

Chris McDougall was a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press and covered wars in Rwanda and Angola. And he has written two best-selling books, Born to Run and Natural Born Heroes. He lives with his wife, two daughters, and lots of farm animals in rural Pennsylvania, where every day seems to give him another great story to tell.

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.