Here's the Reader's Digest version: The book is "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. A teacher at Schofield Middle School in Aiken, South Carolina, read the book to students. One parent called it pornographic. That parent went to the school and then police. The teacher was placed on "administrative leave."
Now, for a bit of sanity: Aiken police will not prosecute that teacher. As reported in the Aiken Standard, "Public Safety officials said the teacher did not do anything criminal, and the police investigation is closed."
Pornographic? Ender's Game?! The book is an award winner -- taking both the "Hugo" and "Nebula" for best novel. I have read the book three times.
The parent is nuts.
Ender's Game is a sci-fi novel about a brilliant little boy snatched from his family and turned into the military leader who will save mankind from an alien race. Sounds like a light saber wielding, laser shoot 'em up, right? Wrong.
This book, as they say, is deep. Told from the perspective of the prepubescent Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, the book revolves around a moral question: Is the severe "training" of this pint-sized commander justified because humanity must have a "savior?"
It's like that old line from "The Wrath of Khan" where Spock says, "The needs of the many outweigh... the needs of the few... or the one." Only by the end of "Ender's Game," I am not so sure Spock got it right.
The book spawned a series that follows Ender and his youthful colleagues through their lives and exploits. I have now read them all. They are all infused with the same "conflicts of conscience" that challenge readers to see things differently.
I confess my description does not do justice to these works of Card.
Just read the book. Or if you prefer, wait until the movie "Ender's Game" comes out in a year.
You will see that the "porn" allegation is absurd, ridiculous and itself, pornographic.
P.S. Although the local constables won't pursue criminal charges against the middle school teacher, the Aiken County School District is conducting its own investigation. The teacher remains on leave.
