Ender's
Game by Orson Scott Card
Paperback from Starscape
ISBN: 0765342294
Winner of the Hugo and Nebula
Awards In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's
next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as
soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind
but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves
more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates
for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut--young Ender is
the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military
training.
Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle
Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing
up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from
isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and
an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include
loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers,
and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.
Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result
of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for
a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway
for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual
as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the
abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.In order to
develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government
agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young
boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his
sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else,
his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training
program but didn't make the cut--young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the
orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.
Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle
Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing
up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from
isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and
an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include
loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers,
and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister. Back on Earth,
Peter and Valentine forge an intellectual alliance and attempt to change
the course of history.
This futuristic tale involves aliens, political discourse on the Internet,
sophisticated computer games, and an orbiting battle station. Yet the reason
it rings true for so many is that it is first and foremost a tale of humanity;
a tale of a boy struggling to grow up into someone he can respect while
living in an environment stripped of choices. Ender's Game is a
must-read book for science fiction lovers, and a key conversion read for
their friends who "don't read science fiction."
Ender's Game won both the Hugo and the Nebula the year it came
out. Writer Orson Scott Card followed up this honor with the first-time
feat of winning both awards again the next year for the sequel, Speaker
for the Dead. --Bonnie Bouman
Read by Jim Dale
8 hours 17 minutes, 7 CDs
Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That's because he's being
raised by his miserable muggle aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will
learn that he's a wizard, just as his parents were.
But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous
school for wizards and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious
birthright.
From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique
curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself
drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to
his own noble destiny.
Say you've spent the first 10 years of your life sleeping under the
stairs of a family who loathes you. Then, in an absurd, magical twist of
fate you find yourself surrounded by wizards, a caged snowy owl, a phoenix-feather
wand, and jellybeans that come in every flavor, including strawberry, curry,
grass, and sardine. Not only that, but you discover that you are a wizard
yourself! This is exactly what happens to young Harry Potter in J.K. Rowling's
enchanting, funny debut novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
In the nonmagic human world--the world of "Muggles"--Harry is a nobody,
treated like dirt by the aunt and uncle who begrudgingly inherited him
when his parents were killed by the evil Voldemort. But in the world of
wizards, small, skinny Harry is famous as a survivor of the wizard who
tried to kill him. He is left only with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead,
curiously refined sensibilities, and a host of mysterious powers to remind
him that he's quite, yes, altogether different from his aunt, uncle, and
spoiled, piglike cousin Dudley.
A mysterious letter, delivered by the friendly giant Hagrid, wrenches
Harry from his dreary, Muggle-ridden existence: "We are pleased to inform
you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
Of course, Uncle Vernon yells most unpleasantly, "I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME
CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" Soon enough, however, Harry
finds himself at Hogwarts with his owl Hedwig... and that's where the real
adventure--humorous, haunting, and suspenseful--begins. Harry Potter
and the Sorcerer's Stone, first published in England as Harry Potter
and the Philosopher's Stone, continues to win major awards in England.
So far it has won the National Book Award, the Smarties Prize, the Children's
Book Award, and is short-listed for the Carnegie Medal, the U.K. version
of the Newbery Medal. This magical, gripping, brilliant book--a future
classic to be sure--will leave kids clamoring for Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
(Ages 8 to 13) --Karin Snelson
