Orson Scott Card was born in Richland, Washington, in 1951. He was named after his grandfather, Orson Rega Card, who was the son of Charles Ora Card, the founder of a Mormon colony in Cardston, Canada. His great-grandmother, Zina Young Card, was a daughter of Brigham Young. Orson Scott Card's parents moved the family to San Mateo, California, when he was a baby, and then to Salt Lake City for his father to complete a bachelor's degree after a back injury made him leave his "sign company." After that, they returned to California and settled in Santa Clara.
As a young boy, Card often went to the Santa Clara library to read the books in both the children's section and the adults' section,...