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Zanna's Gift: A Life in Christmases
 
 
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Zanna's Gift: A Life in Christmases [Hardcover]

Scott Richards (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)


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Book Description

October 21, 2004
From the pen of a masterful storyteller comes a touching and inspirational story of love, loss, and the true meaning of Christmas that will take its place beside Richard Paul Evans' "Christmas Box Trilogy," as a timeless classic that will be passed from generation to generation.

When the Pullman family lost their eldest son Ernie to an unexpected illness just before Christmas, 1938, it was devastating to all of them, but especially to young Suzanna, their four-year-old daughter who shared a special bond with her big brother. A strangely gifted child, Zanna loved to draw, but Ernie was the only one who was able to see the pictures in the curious patterns she made. And he did not live to see her last gift, a Christmas painting she had made just for him.

This is the story of that gift, and how it inspired her and her whole family, generation to generation, to keep alive the spirit of imagination, hope, and love, for Christmases to come.
Zanna grew up to be a famous artist, but in the hearts of her children and grandchildren, her nieces and nephews, that first painting, the Gift, was truly her most important work. Christmas after Christmas, as the long decades pass up to the present day, Scott Richards allows us to share in the warmth of a family bound together by the transcendent miracle of love.

Zanna's life, told in Christmases, will inspire you to keep alive your own family traditions, to share those loving moments with your children and grandchildren for years to come.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Zanna's Gift is a Christmas message for our time: a wise and poignant tale of love and faith, and a reminder for a troubled world that grief can act as a crucible to the human spirit, calling forth a masterpiece of art or music or literature, to give shape to sorrow." --Sharyn McCrumb, New York Times Bestselling author of "St. Dale" on Zanna's Gift

About the Author

Scott Richards grew up in California, and travels extensively throughout the world.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 144 pages
  • Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (October 21, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0765312379
  • ISBN-13: 978-0765312372
  • Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,219,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Short but sweet, January 1, 2006
By 
Wes Vodka (Leadville, CO) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Zanna's Gift: A Life in Christmases (Hardcover)
First off, this book is NOT long! It spans a mere 144 pages and has a rather large font. However, even in it's extreme brevity there are some genuinely touching moments and it's fine way to spend some snowy winter afternoon.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Zanna's Gift is timeless, beautiful, and full of emotions., April 29, 2005
By 
This review is from: Zanna's Gift: A Life in Christmases (Hardcover)
A friend gave me this book simply because my daughter's name is Zanna. I read it and fell in love with it. It speaks about loss and grief and their connection to love. The Pullman's are like so many families in America who left innocence behind too early. But in them there is the hope of things to come, the love of what was, and the joy for what will be. Read it today and start thinking of how you can leave a gift like Zanna's for the world to love.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Grief Is Another Word for Love, May 28, 2010
By 
Oscar Scott Card, under a pseudonym, Scott Richards, made a small novelette called Zanna's Gift, a Christmas story told from the view of the late 1930s and spans through present day.

It's the story of the Pullman family who have a family of three teenage boys and one four year old girl. The girl, Zanna, loves to draw and it seems her big brother Ernie is the only one who can decipher her scribblings.

The story starts off in a shocking way, when the boy, who is built up by the author to have so much promise and life, dies in his sleep! Wasn't expecting that!

The little girl had just drawn a picture for Ernie for Christmas, and when she finds out he has died, she's devastated. No one will know what her picture means! Even her parents can't tell what she drew.

The years roll on, little Zanna deals with her grief, and eventually it is revealed she is a twin of another girl who died at birth.

The author keeps up these shocks, one after another, until you're just torn apart by the grief. Gets pretty heavy.

Scott Richards though then loses his way a bit. The development of secondary characters, such as Zanna's nephew, doesn't really go along with the rest of the theme of grief and redemption. He's just sort of "bad" and somehow that plays out.

The whole book shows Zanna growing up, having kids of her own, her own dealings with her brothers and her painting that she drew at four. It's faded now, and framed, but becomes part of a family tradition for Christmas, and out-lives her.

The story picks up again with her niece Betty, who suffers from debilitating polio. My goodness, how much grief and despair can this family take??

The story is somewhat unrealistic, but the themes of grief, despair and conquering it will nurturing love is throughout the book.

Makes a great little story for anyone suffering from these things and gives some hope, and does fit into the full meaning of Christmas.

Not bad, Scott!

For Oscar Scott Card's science fiction books:

Xenocide T3
The Ender Quartet Box Set: Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind

And one of my fav alternate history stories:

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus


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Granny Zan, Heavenly Father, Bobbsey Twins, Christmas Eve, Suzanna Pullman
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