Ender's Game

Title: Ender’s Game
Author: Orson Scott Card
Publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 0312932081

Recommended for Grades 9-12
Genre: Science-Fiction

Reader’s Annotation:
Ender is the brightest and most talented student in his class. The government is training him to be the next great fleet commander of the military. But can Ender handle the strain that the training brings?


Plot Summary:
Andrew “Ender” Wiggins is a third. He is the third child that his parents had, which, due to overpopulation of the planet, is against the law. Amazingly despite this the government selects Ender, takes him away from his family at the age of 6 and sends him to the elite Battle School for training. To train their future soldiers, the school has the students playing video games to simulate what war with Earth’s enemies, the alien “Buggers,” would be like. Ender is promoted quickly through the ranks of the school and is soon promoted to command school. Here he is put through a series of grueling simulations all leading up to his final test. It is only at the end of this test that Ender learns the true motivation of the Battle School and why he and his classmates are being trained. The truth nearly kills Ender, and he must do what he can to make it right.

Evaluation:
Ender’s Game is an interesting look at the depersonalization of the military and the moral implications that this raises. Ender hopes that his savage and cruel tactics in a virtual battle will get him kicked out of school, not knowing how much is truly at stake.

Notes:
Card revised Ender’s Game in 1991, changing some of the political facts to reflect the time, such as the fall of the Soviet Union.

There are 10 other books in the Ender’s Game series:
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind
Ender's Shadow
Shadow of the Hegemon
Shadow Puppets
Shadow of the Giant
First Meetings
A War of Gifts: An Ender Story
Ender in Exile