A WAR OF GIFTS; Orson Scott Card; New York: Tor, 2007; 126pgs. Fiction/Young AdultEnder Wiggins' Battle School is an odd setting for a Christmas story, but when Zeck, the son of a fundamentalist preacher, arrives at the school and refuses to wage even simulated war, the Holiday that Must not be Named (nor celebrated) becomes an issue. When Dink writes his fellow Dutchman a poem for St. Nicholas day, and cuts his pancakes into letters, Zeck complains that if others are celebrating a "Santa Claus holiday," he should be able to observe his religion openly. Soon students of other faiths get riled up, and the War of Gifts is joined. Zeck becomes a pariah among his classmates, and Dink and Ender must use wisdom and restraint to restore peace in the season thereof. Aside from the cookie cutter portrait of the abusive fundamentalist father, the characters in this book are richly realized, and the story is sweetly told. Home, country, tradition, fellow-feeling, and brotherly kindness find a place in Outer Space.
LW
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