{"id":3290,"date":"2009-12-02T11:58:48","date_gmt":"2009-12-02T16:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=3290"},"modified":"2009-12-02T11:58:49","modified_gmt":"2009-12-02T16:58:49","slug":"the-unfinished-gift-by-dan-walsh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=3290","title":{"rendered":"The Unfinished Gift by Dan Walsh"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>MY REVIEW:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"The Unfinished Gift\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bakerpublishinggroup.com\/Book.asp?isbn=978-0-8007-1924-1\">The Unfinished Gift<\/a> is a beautifully told story perfect for the Christmas season but relevant for any time of the year. With a historical setting during World War Two, it nevertheless relates spiritual truths that span the generations. While there are times when the reader will definitely want a box of tissues close at hand, there are other moments filled with humor and joy that will prompt a smile or even a chuckle.<\/p>\n<p>The story centers around Patrick, a boy who has just lost his mother to a tragic accident shortly before Christmas. Because his father is a pilot fighting in the war overseas, he is taken to live with the grandfather he has never met &#8211; an embittered and grumpy old man who does not know what to do with Patrick. <a title=\"The Unfinished Gift\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bakerpublishinggroup.com\/Book.asp?isbn=978-0-8007-1924-1\">The Unfinished Gift<\/a> recounts the misunderstandings that caused the estrangement between Patrick&#8217;s grandfather and father, the pride and stubborness that kept them apart, and the unexpected circumstances that brought about restoration to a family.<\/p>\n<p>Dan Walsh has penned an extraordinary first novel that left me wanting more. I hope to see future books by this author soon.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>\u201cAvailable at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em><strong><br \/>\n <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3293\" style=\"margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;\" title=\"UnfinishedGift\" src=\"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/UnfinishedGift.jpg\" alt=\"UnfinishedGift\" width=\"223\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/UnfinishedGift.jpg 223w, https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/UnfinishedGift-96x150.jpg 96w, https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/UnfinishedGift-150x234.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 223px) 100vw, 223px\" \/>Patrick Collins is seven years old, and on his Christmas list are only three items. He wants the army to find his father. He wants to leave his grandfather&#8217;s house. And, for reasons even he doesn&#8217;t understand, he wants the soldier that&#8217;s tucked away in his grandfather&#8217;s attic. Set at Christmastime in 1943, The Unfinished Gift tells in an engaging, simple style the story of a family, and reminds us of the surprising things that affect powerful change in our hearts&#8211;like a young boy&#8217;s prayers, a shoebox full of love letters, and even an old wooden soldier, long forgotten. This nostalgic story of forgiveness will engage readers everywhere.<\/p>\n<p><br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/p>\n<p><br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/p>\n<p><br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/p>\n<p><br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Read the first two chapters of The Unfinished Gift here on Scribd or <a title=\"The Unfinished Gift\" href=\"http:\/\/www.revellbooks.com\/Media\/MediaManager\/Excerpt_9780800719241.pdf\">download a pdf here<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>\n<object id=\"doc_959443497732781\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"name\" value=\"doc_959443497732781\" \/><param name=\"align\" value=\"middle\" \/><param name=\"quality\" value=\"high\" \/><param name=\"play\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"loop\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"scale\" value=\"showall\" \/><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"opaque\" \/><param name=\"devicefont\" value=\"false\" \/><param name=\"bgcolor\" value=\"#ffffff\" \/><param name=\"menu\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"mode\" value=\"list\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/d1.scribdassets.com\/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=22313424&amp;access_key=key-2e7sj9lahdxyhkncap6p&amp;page=1&amp;version=1&amp;viewMode=list\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" \/><embed id=\"doc_959443497732781\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" src=\"http:\/\/d1.scribdassets.com\/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=22313424&amp;access_key=key-2e7sj9lahdxyhkncap6p&amp;page=1&amp;version=1&amp;viewMode=list\" mode=\"list\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" menu=\"true\" bgcolor=\"#ffffff\" devicefont=\"false\" wmode=\"opaque\" scale=\"showall\" loop=\"true\" play=\"true\" quality=\"high\" align=\"middle\" name=\"doc_959443497732781\"><\/embed><\/object>\n<\/p>\n<p><a style=\"margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block; text-decoration: underline;\" title=\"View The Unfinished Gift on Scribd\" href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/22313424\/The-Unfinished-Gift\">View a Sample of The Unfinished Gift on Scribd<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MY REVIEW: The Unfinished Gift is a beautifully told story perfect for the Christmas season but relevant for any time of the year. With a historical setting during World War Two, it nevertheless relates spiritual truths that span the generations. While there are times when the reader will definitely want a box of tissues close [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-christmas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3290"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3444,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290\/revisions\/3444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}