Ender’s Game

Title: Ender’s Game

Author: Orson Scott Card

ISBN: 978-0812550702

Publisher: Tor Science Fiction

Copyright: July 15, 1994 (Original 1985)

Genre: Science Fiction

Age Range: 14+

Reader’s Annotation: After a near alien invasion, the earth joins resources toward the creation of perfect soldiers like Andrew “Ender” Wiggin who is recruited to be the savior of the human race.

Plot Summary: Andrew “Ender” Wiggin is a Third, the third child in an earth that is under strict population control. He is the last brilliant child of the Wiggin family to have the chance to make it into Battle School. His brother Peter was too sadistically aggressive. His sister Valentine was too passive. Ender is just the right combination of intelligence, forethought, and resilience to make it into Battle School.

The rigorous and high pressure environment and training of Battle School brings outwardly the best attributes of Ender: leadership, intelligence, and innovation. As his successes grow, his internal conflict grows. Ender is constantly fighting a crushing psychological battle of isolation, intense peer rivalry, pressure from adults, and the fear of not understanding the enemy. Is Ender this world’s savior or destroyer? The future of the earth is dependent on Ender’s leadership and the performance of his schoolmates in the battles to come.

Critical Evaluation: Ender’s Game has many credentials. It is both a Hugo Award and Nebula Award winner as well as a New York Times Bestseller. The story is all about conflict. His inner conflict is between who he wants to be and who he has to be. Will ender choose to be a ruthless killer or will he decide to make friends and peace with his fellow cadets? This conflict is often shaped by the adults and other cadets that surround Ender. There is conflict between Ender and Colonel Graff. Graff puts obstacles and challenges in Ender’s way from training to conflicts with other cadets. The cadets and their egos/competitive nature constantly challenge Ender. Ender is also fighting society. Society needs Ender to defeat the far off alien race, known as “Buggers,” that might wipe out the human race. Ender struggles with the idea of genocide against a race that he does not fully understand. Card does a fine job of mixing up these different conflicts and bringing to the surface the key conflicts that make themselves important to Ender in appropriate intensity.

Author Information: Orson Scott Card is the author of the continuing Ender series including Speaker for the Dead and Ender’s Shadow. He also writes fantasy, Biblical fiction, and poetry. Being a member of the Church of Later Day Saints, his writing often has a biblical flair or moral. He is a professor of writing at the Southern Virginia University.

Curriculum Ties: Psychology, adolescent development, strategy, leadership, politics.

Challenge Issues: Youth Violence; Psychological Abuse; Anti-Authoritarian

Booktalk Ideas: Leadership – One can use the examples in Ender’s Game to talk about the different leadership styles and personality types that define a good or bad leader.