First sentence: There are many ways to lose a child, and none of them is merciful. But like all unbearable things it can be borne, and in the weeks before Christmas 1938, the Pullmans were learning how.

Premise/plot: Zanna's Gift is a LOVELY Christmas novel. Zanna, the youngest of the Pullman family, has a special way to memorialize her older brother, Ernest, after his unexpected death at fifteen.

The best way to read Zanna's Gift is without knowing a thing about it. I promise you. I'm doing you a favor by NOT summarizing the plot and sharing what Zanna's GIFT was and how it was a gift that kept giving and giving.

My thoughts: LOVE. I loved this one absolutely and completely from start to finish. It was one of those perfectly perfect EXPERIENCES. It feels like more than just a book, a story, a fictional work. THESE CHARACTERS ARE REAL. How it hasn't been adapted into a movie if it was truly published originally in 2004 is beyond me. It would make an excellent movie.

I would recommend this one to people who aren't necessarily readers. Of course I recommend it to readers who read anything and everything. But for those who are reluctant to pick up books, please consider reading this wonderful amazing book.

If you LOVE Christmas, this is an absolute must. I could easily see it becoming a book that you feel you HAVE to read each and every year.

ETA: I've read this one three times? four times? I love this book so much. ( )

I decided to read this gentle book during the Christmas season. I am so glad that I did!

The book opens "There are many ways to lose a child, and none of them is merciful. But like all unbearable things it can be borne, and in the weeks before Christmas 1938, the Pullmans were learning how."

Zanna's Gift is a book about love and loss, grief and learning, sadness and hope. It is essentially about being a family member in a family that is both ordinary and extraordinary. The love and caring expressed in this book are a balm to the soul.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys fiction with a Christian background. ( )

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
( )

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
( )

When the Pullman family, in 1938, lost their eldest son, Ernie to an unexpected illness just before Christmas, it was devastating to all, but especially to Ernie's little 4 year old sister, Suzanna. She shared a special bond with Ernie. He was the only one who could understand her paintings. He never saw the last painting she did for him, but it was shared every Christmas after his death......truly a story of a family bound together by the miracle of love.