A War of Gifts: An Ender Story
Orson Scott Card
 A War of Gifts begins in North Carolina where Zechariah 'Zeck' Morgan, a boy with nearly perfect memory, lives with his family. Though Zeck’s father is the minister of his own church and has raised Zeck to be a pacifist, he beats the boy regularly. When the International Fleet shows up to take Zeck to Battle School, Zeck’s mother sees this as the perfect opportunity to get the boy away from his abusive father. At Battle School, the other students barely tolerate Zeck because of his strong religious beliefs and his refusal to fight in the Battle Room. On December fifth Zeck sees a Dutch boy put a Sinterklaas Day gift in another Dutch boy’s shoe. Because religious activities including prayer and holidays are forbidden at Battle School and Zeck has been taught by his father that Santa Claus is evil, he decides to report the two boys to Colonel Graff. After the Colonel calls the boys in and reprimands them, they decide to rebel by getting everyone to celebrate not Christmas, but Santa Claus, as he is not a religious symbol in the book, but a secular one. When Zeck complains to the authorities, they refuse to do anything. Zeck goes to the Muslim students and points out that the Christians are being allowed to celebrate their holidays. Some of the Muslim students begin daily prayers. When the administration forcibly stops the Muslims from praying, the other students stop giving each other Christmas presents. They also refuse to speak to Zeck. When he begins to have a nervous breakdown because of the isolation, Ender Wiggin decides to have a talk with him. In doing so, Ender discovers that Zeck was desperately trying to get sent back home so that he could protect his mother from his father. After he convinces Zeck that his mother doesn't need to be protected, Ender gives him a small "Santa Claus" present. When the other students learn that Zeck accepted the gift, they stop ignoring him and go back to tolerating him.