Jan: a ragged orphan boy who is given the silver sword by Joseph. Fierce, courageous and with a love of animals, he accompanies the children on their long journey to Switzerland in search of their parents.
Ruth: Ruth is strong, resourceful and caring. She becomes a surrogate mother to Bronia and Jan.
Edek: Edek is brave and the main provider for the family at the beginning of the novel. Captured for stealing food, he endures many hardships and becomes dangerously ill.
Bronia: Bronia is not yet five years old when her mother and father are taken away. She is brought up by Ruth and protected fiercely.
Ivan: a Russian sentry who helps the children after Ruth visits him. He brings presents of chocolate, pencils and shoes.
Captain Greenwood: an American soldier who tries Edek for interfering with train signals.
Mr and Mrs Wolff: kindly Bavarian farmers who take in the children and help them escape the Burgomaster.
The Burgomaster: a man whose job is to find all Poles in Germany and send them back home to Poland whether they want to go or not.
Joe Wolski: an American soldier born in Poland who drives the children to the border.
Jan’s animal friends: Jimpy the cockerel, Mr and Mrs Wolff’s dog, Ludwig, and Bistro the chimpanzee.
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Test your knowledge of The Silver Sword
(Answers at the end of the book. No cheating!)
Which of the following did Jan not keep in his wooden box? 3 dead fleas from the hairy chest of Bistro the chimpanzee
a penknife and a ball of string
the buttons off a German uniform
What was the name of Jan’s cockerel?
Can you remember the name of the American soldier who drives the children into Switzerland in his truck?
How does Ruth keep the children occupied in Warsaw?
How do the children escape from the Burgomaster?
Can you name each of the three Balicki children in order of age starting with the youngest first? Extra difficult question…
What does Jan give to Ivan to say sorry?
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Fascinating facts about The Silver Sword
Truth can be stranger than fiction…
During the Second World War many thousands of people in Europe were forced to leave their homes. Bombing destroyed many houses (and schools). Towns and villages were turned into piles of rubble and many families were separated by the fighting. Food was very scarce and ration books were created. Despite the ration books, most people had little or nothing to eat and many people starved.
After the war many people had no homes to return to. Refugee camps were set up to help the people who had lost their families and belongings. Red Cross camps like the one the Balicki children find themselves in at Lake Constance really did exist.
Bombed towns and cities were often unrecognisable and the strangest things could happen in them. Berlin Zoo got bombed during the Second World War and many of the animals were killed. Amongst the survivors were an elephant, two lions and a chimpanzee!
Warsaw was one of the most heavily bombed cities during the Second World War – eighty-four per cent of the city was destroyed. Towards the end of the war many of the city’s inhabitants fought together to try and free their home town. Hundreds of children fought alongside adults. If you visit Warsaw today you can see a statue called The Little Insurgent that remembers their bravery.
* * *
* * *
Who was Ian Serraillier?
When was he born?
Ian Serraillier was born in London on 24 September 1912. He was the eldest of four children. His father died in the 1919 flu epidemic when Ian was only six years old.
Apart from writing The Silver Sword what did he do?
Ian Serraillier was a school teacher, just like Joseph Balicki in The Silver Sword. He wrote many children’s novels, poetry and retellings of classic tales from Ancient Greece and Old England. He was the founding editor of a new publishing imprint, the New Windmill Series. His wife Anne worked with him as joint editor for over forty years.
Where did he get his idea for The Silver Sword from?
The Silver Sword was begun only six years after the end of the war. Ian had the idea to write the book after learning about the many children made into refugees by the war.
How long did it take to write?
The book may be short but it took five years to write. Ian did lots of research to make sure the book was as authentic as possible. The three Balicki children are based on records of real children he read about in Red Cross Records after the war.
How did people react to his book when it was published?
On publication, some critics thought that The Silver Sword’s subject matter was not suitable for children. Many disagreed. The novel was published in 1956 and has never been out of print.
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Make your own secret treasure box!
Jan’s wooden box holds all of his most valued possessions and survives almost the entire journey. It is only lost when the boat he is in sinks near the end of the story. Here’s how to make a box of your own. What will you hide away in yours?
What you’ll need:
a shoe box
newspaper
glue
empty cereal box
Sellotape
pens and paints
scissors
1) Tear the newspaper into rough strips. Put glue on the back of a strip and stick the strip to the shoe box. Repeat this until you have covered the box, then do the same to the lid (but see step 2 if you want to make your lid a different shape). Watch out! Remember to wrap and glue the base and the lid separately! Now do two or three more layers of paper in the same way.
2) If you want to make your box look more like a treasure chest with a domed lid, cut a rectangle of cereal-box card which is the same length as the box lid but at least 2cm wider than it. Arch this over the lid with the long sides of the card matching the long sides of the lid and attach it using Sellotape. To fill in the open ends of the arch, cut semicircles of card to fit and Sellotape them into position. Cover the lid with layers of newspaper strips as you did before.
3) When the glue has dried, paint the base and lid (acrylic or poster paint would be best) and leave to dry again.
4) Now use a felt Marker or paint and draw on some details or decorations. If you have made a domed treasure chest, wavy lines and knots to look like planks of wood would be good, and you could draw on some nail heads. Don’t forget the lock! Or you could draw patterns, or flowers and leaves, for example.
5) Once your treasure box is dry, fill it with your most secret and valued possessions.
6) Store it in a secret place.
* * *
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Answers to The Silver Sword quiz – how did you do?
The answer is b: a penknife and ball of string
Jimpy
Joe Wolski
She starts a school
They escape down the river in two canoes
Bronia, Edek, Ruth
A dead, shrivelled-up lizard
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Version 1.0
Epub ISBN 9781448139873
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Published by Vintage 2012
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Text copyright © Ian Serraillier, 1956
Illustrations copyright © David Frankland
, 2003
Afterword originally published in the Puffin Modern Classics edition, copyright © Jane Serraillier Grossfeld, 1993; revised and expanded for Red Fox, 2003 edition, copyright © Jane Serraillier Grossfeld, 2003 Photographs by David Seymour from Children of Europe (Unesco publication no. 403, 1949, France), copyright 1949 by Unesco, Paris; reproduced by kind permission of Unesco.
The right of Ian Serraillier to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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The Silver Sword was first published in Great Britain in 1956
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The Silver Sword Page 14
