Peter Phalen's favorite book is Enders Game, by Orson Scott Card. In the book, aliens have already attacked earth twice, nearly wiping out the human species. The government has set up a school to teach kids how to fight the aliens, which they call buggers. Ender, the main character, is a genius. He wins all the games and excels at all the battles. He's smart, but is he smart enough to save the planet, at age 11?
             Ender was born into a society that only allowed two children per family. His parents were allowed to have him because their first two kids were close to being perfect for battle school. Peter was too mean and Valentine was too nice but, besides that, they were perfect. The government hoped that their third child would be a mix of Peter and Valentine.
             Peter hated Ender. He would constantly torment Ender and beat him up every day. Kids at school also hated him. He had no friends at all, and a boy named Stilson was especially nasty to Ender. Just like Peter, Stilson would torment Ender every day. At least at home, he had Valentine who would try to protect him from Peter, but at school, Ender had no one.
             The government puts a monitor on every child at birth to observe everything the child does and to see if he or she is qualified for battle school. Ender finally got his monitor taken off at age 6, which was unheard of unless you were going to battle school. Yet, Ender went to his normal school the next day so everyone thought the ordeal was over. Stilson started tormenting him after class the next day. Ender decided he wasn't going to put up with Stilson any more so Ender punched him and kicked him while Stilson was still on the ground. Blood started pouring out and Ender walked away.
             The next day a man from the government came to Ender's house and introduced himself as Graff. Graff told Ender, "I've come to invite you to battle school." Ender was stunned, but after ...