Welcome to class! Read both of the statements carefully. Do you agree with one statement more than the other? Do you agree with both? Why or why not? Do you think the majority of teens would agree with you? Why or why not? “Children are a perpetual, self-renewing, underclass, helpless to escape from the decisions of adults until they become adults themselves” “I felt like a person all along—the same person I am today, I never felt that my emotions and desires were somehow less real than an adult’s emotions or desires”

Ender’s Game By Orson Scott Card

What is Science Fiction?

I. What is Science Fiction? It is similar to fantasy, but different because the imaginary elements of the story are largely possible within the laws of science and nature. For example, what is the difference between Lord of the Rings, Twilight, and Harry Potter vs. Star Wars, Avatar, and Frankenstein? It is often referred to as “the literature of ideas” and many novels elicit intellectual discussions. What topics might arise – Cloning? Laws about number of children a family can have? Weapons spending? Use of immunizations? Military spending and strategies? The setting is often in space and/or the future. It often involves aliens, robots, time travel, new scientific discoveries…

II. Can a novel be science fiction and another genre? Yes, of course. Frankenstein, for example, is classified as science fiction and horror. Andromeda Strain is science fiction and drama. Jurassic Park is science fiction and adventure. Many, many books fall into multiple genres.

III. The History of Science Fiction Science fiction can be traced back to mythology based on our modern day definition, but the term “science fiction” was first coined around the 1930’s. Early science fiction wrote about ridiculous ideas like walking on the moon, orbiting the earth, gene selection, …or were they so ridiculous?

Which of these science fiction movies have you seen? Again, what do these movies have in common? What makes them science-fiction? The Timetraveler’s Wife Star Trek Terminator I-Robot Race to Witch Mountain Avatar Land of the Lost 2012 Iron Man Jumper Star Wars Transformers

IV. Who is Orson Scott Card? Born in Washington, but raised in California, Utah and Arizona Lives in North Carolina Writes several genres, but is most known for science fiction Began his career as a poet. He is also a college professor who teaches writing classes. He lost two of his 5 children – one at birth and one at 17 to cerebral palsy. He has at least 7 pseudonyms.

V. Ender’s Game It began as a short story in 1977. The novel was published in 1985 with a revised version published in 1991. It is set in Earth’s future when we are preparing for a third, and possibly devastating, invasion by an alien race called “buggers”. The world’s most intelligent children, including Ender, are chosen to attend battle school, in hopes of finding someone who can lead the military and save the world. It has received several awards. Card has also written 5 sequels: Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind, A War of Gifts, and Ender in Exile It has been turned into two comic strips and there have been plans for a video game and a movie was released in 2013

Warm up: On your character chart, describe Ender based on chapter 1. USE TEXT EVIDENCE. Thursday: CBA Friday: cumulative vocab/reading check quiz (ch. 1-5) HW today: read chapter 3