Running with Sherman: A Donkey with the Heart of a Hero

 Running with Sherman: The Donkey with the Heart of a Hero by Christopher McDougall  352 pages

Fans of James Herriott’s “All Creatures Great and Small” series will love this tale of courage and strength.

When writer and jogger Christopher McDougall learned that one of his neighbors in rural Pennsylvania was a animal hoarder and needed money, he didn’t hesitate to purchase a donkey. He was, however, unprepared for the abuse the little gray donkey had suffered. “Its fur was crusted with dung, turning his white belly black. In places the fur had been torn away, revealing raw skin almost certainly infested with parasites. He was barrel-shaped and bloated from poor feed and his mouth was a mess, with one tooth so rotten it fell right out when touched. Worst of all was his hooves, so monstrously overgrown they looked like witch’s claws.”

Hooves this bad are usually a death sentence for a donkey. But the McDougall family could tell beneath that battered body was an intelligent creature that seemed to want to live. They named him Sherman, after the songwriting Sherman brothers from the movie, “Saving Mr. Banks.”

Another neighbor, Tanya, pitched in to help the McDougall’s turn Sherman around. The most important thing, she told the family of four,  he needed once he was clean, well-fed and learned to walk after his hooves were fixed, was a purpose. Donkeys need a reason to live…they need a job to do. Christopher decided that Sherman’s “job” would be to run with him as he trained for marathons.

This book covers one year in the life of Sherman and the McDougall’s. It’s the story of how he became best friends with a goat named Lawrence and trained, along with his other new friends Flower and Matilda, for entering the burro racing competition help every year in Colorado. As McDougall takes readers on his adventure, it’s laugh out loud funny and heartrendingly sad. Fortunately, the laughter outweighs with sad.  Readers get an inside peek at the nature and mind of a donkey…how they can be led and be a leader..and of course how stubborn they can be. After reading this wonderful story, I would love to have a donkey, but I think it may be too smart for me. “Running with Sherman: The Donkey with the Heart of a Hero” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.