Four child refugees hide out in Warsaw at the end of the WW2. When it is finally over they set out on a journey across Poland and Germany to Switzerland, where they hope to meet their father, who escaped from a Nazi prisoner of war camp earlier on in the war. The BBC produced an eight-part children's television series in 1957, at the Lime Grove Studios in London, [4] and a further BBC television version was produced in the early 1970s. [5] Both of these serials are thought to survive in some capacity (the final episode of the 1957 serial is definitely known to exist). In 2011, a year before the centenary of the author's birth, a radio adaptation was produced for BBC Radio 4 Extra. [4] Legacy [ edit ] The Silver Sword was a BBC seven-part serial based on the book of the same name by Ian Serraillier. Although the character names used in the story are fictitious they are, in actuality, based on factual events and real people (from records kept by the Red Cross). Serraillier spent five years researching the true events that took place in war-torn Europe in the 1940s, researching into the military side of the story, taking eyewitness accounts from a book entitled East Wind Over Prague, by J. Stransky and drawing on his own observations. Ivan is a sentry at the Russian outpost in Warsaw. He has a soft spot for the children and is always bringing them supplies for the little school Ruth runs, or things they might need for their journey—such as shoes for Bronia, or chocolate bars. Although Jan dislikes him at first, Ivan is tolerant of Jan's combativeness and tries to reach him by fixing his broken box. Kurt and Frau Wolff Based on true accounts, this is a moving story of life during and after the Second World War. Read more Details

Based on a true story, this novel is the story of four children travelling through war-ravaged Europe during World War Two. An excellent drama from a golden age of children's television, The Changes was described as one of the most ambitious series produced by the BBC Children's Drama Department.

As for Ruth, who had taken on more responsibilities than a woman her age should have, she clung to her parents for a time and did not want to go out into the wider world. Finally, she went to study in Zurich for her degree, married, and had children of her own. She and her French husband became the house-parents at the French house in the children’s village. In the crowded camp, the men do what they can to stay warm. Few are strong enough to try to escape, but Joseph is determined. He is too ill during his first winter, and spends his time thinking of his family and his school, which the Nazis closed because someone reported that he had turned the picture of Hitler’s face to the wall. The Serrailliers, in their work at New Windmill, revealed their understanding of the liminality of the territory between adult and child. Indeed, a central theme within The Silver Sword is the shifting boundaries between adult and childhood-states: at some points in the narrative, Ruth’s maturity and resilience makes her appear as essentially the adult of the party, yet, when we view her through the eyes of others, she reverts to being a child. Another example of these blurred boundaries is in the relationship between the children and the adults they encounter, as the chaos of war subverts received notions and constructions of childhood in the hierarchy of age. Although the wartime setting of The Silver Sword certainly magnifies these confusions, the Serrailliers believed more generally that children on the cusp of adulthood required a particular sort of book. As Karen Sands-O’Connor observes, the New Windmill Series was “one of the earliest imprints to publish and promote books specifically for the teen audience” ( 2017, p.20). The trajectory of the list was such that, having started by predominantly publishing books written for children, albeit at the older end of the spectrum, by the middle of the 1960s, a significant proportion of the list was made up of books originally published as adult novels. Of course, the children are never anxious or scared or sad: "Edek was always cheerful -- because he was always busy." (I feel like this is supposed to be a moral lesson...) When they return to their cellar to find it looted, "Patiently and without despair Ruth set to work to repair the damage." It's bland and boring af because there's no sense of struggle. The entire book is basically a series of unconnected adventures (kayaking! sleeping in hay barns! looting trains!) as these pathologically jolly children make their way across war-torn Europe in late 1944 through to the spring of 1945. As well as children’s novels and poetry, Serrailler produced his own retellings of classic tales, in prose and verse, including Beowulf, Chaucer and Greek myth. Together with his wife Anne he founded the New Windmill Series in 1948, published by Heinemann Educational Books, which set out to provide inexpensive editions of good stories. He continued as co-editor of the series until the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

I LOVE THIS BOOK! Great for children as it is full of adventure and excitement as the brave Adek, Ruth and Bronya search for their mother and father without second thoughts and of Joseph, their father who constantly searches for his children during WW2. Full of fact and fiction, I recommend this book to all!!!👍 Serraillier, Ian (1956). The Silver Sword (2003ed.). London: Random House. p.179. ISBN 9780099439493. The Silver Sword is a children's novel published in 1956 by British author Ian Serraillier. It is widely considered to be a classic of children’s literature. However, when German voices sound out the next morning there, is no time to run to the shed, so Joseph climbs into the chimney. He is almost discovered, but soot puffing out of the chimney leads the Germans to run away for fear of dirtying their uniforms.The writing is gripping, fast-paced and hooks the reader. You become so invested in the characters and long for their family to reunite. It is one of the most powerful books I have ever read, and as a child it sparked my interest in finding out more about the Second World War. The subject matter is serious and the setting realistic, but it is presented in a way appropriate for children. The fact that the book depicts a Polish family in Central Europe is also refreshing, as many British children's books about the Second World War are only focused on Britain. It ties in well to a study of history - I would suggest it for at least Year 4 and up as I first read it when I was 8. As he reflected on the punishment he had given the boy, he realised that for all his noble intentions he had only been scratching on the surface of a problem he could not begin to solve. A week’s detention would not prevent Jan from stealing again. Could Ruth prevent him? She was a remarkable girl and, if anybody could help him, it was she. But after five years of war and twisted living, such cases were too often beyond remedy (1956, p.106).

Would I have enjoyed the story as a child? Probably, but it wouldn't have become a favourite, one of those books I read again and again. Did I enjoy the book as an adult? Yes... He was born in London, the eldest of four children. His father died as a result of the 1918 flu pandemic when he was only six years old. He was educated at Brighton College, and took his degree at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and became an English teacher. He taught at Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire from 1936 to 1939; at Dudley Grammar School in Worcestershire from 1939 to 1946; and at Midhurst Grammar School in West Sussex from 1946 to 1961. As a Quaker, he was granted conscientious objector status in World War II. Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments Found this on a list of children's classics, read with daughter (11). The story of a Polish family, broken apart in WWII. The first several chapters are about the father, who escapes from prison and heads for relatives in Switzerland after returning to a rubble-strewn Warsaw. While there, he doesn't find his family but does find a young boy, who takes a Silver Sword (really a letter opener) as a token to prove who he is should he find the other children. The rest of the story is about his three children, left alone after the mother is taken to a detention camp. They find the boy with the sword and make their way to Switzerland also, among many adventures.

At the ruins of his home, Joseph finds a silver letter opener in the shape of a small sword. He also meets a young boy there carrying a wood box. Eventually he befriends the boy, Jan, who shows Joseph how and where to safely jump a train to Switzerland. Before he leaves, he gives the silver sword/letter opener to Jan and asks him to tell his children, should he run into them, that their father has gone to their grandparents in Switzerland to find their mother, and to follow him there. Jan puts the sword in his wooden box for safekeeping. Murphy, Joan. (1969). “Bodley Head’s new venture in American writing for teenagers”. The School Librarian. HEB NW 8/10_Pigman Throughout the novel, Serraillier juxtaposes the hatred and destructive nature of Nazism and the people who supported it against the kind and helpful people who rejected it, people who were willing to take a chance, even risking of arrest and death, to help the children Serraillier began the work in 1949, five years after World War II's end, and took five years to complete it. It was published by Jonathan Cape in 1956 and by Puffin Books in 1960. This view is key to Ian Serraillier’s ideology, both as an author and an editor. An analysis of key themes and episodes from the book reveals threads which can be traced from a fictional depiction of children in wartime through to an educational book list which anticipated the changing commercial and cultural construction of adolescence.

The Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature deems the work “one of the most remarkable books since 1945,” and in 2012 it was featured in Once Upon a Wartime, an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum.

One day, Ruth is called into the superintendent’s office; he asks her to describe the sword in detail. She does, even mentioning the little piece on the hilt that is bent. He unrolls a parcel on his desk and shows her the sword, along with two letters: one from Herr Wolff and one from her father. Herr Wolff had pieced their family history together and sent it in the letter to the camp. How could we possibly imagine that it was right to show children of all people this terrible chapter of human history? [...] Significantly none came from children, by whom this story is remembered with gratitude because it treated them as responsible citizens who could be trusted with a frank account of what the war and its by-products, like juvenile delinquency and refugees, was really about.” ( 1958) The appeal of this salty and lively novel is to “young adults”, thoughtful, questioning, intelligent, of the calibre to study for “A” levels […] 15+, with some political awareness, disillusioned with society as at present organised and anxious to explore new ways of doing things, and new solutions, conscious too of the gap that yawns between themselves and the older generation, having to follow along the accepted grooves of examination-passing, and wanting to make a hit with their girl-friends when they feel they ought perhaps to be at their books, studying.” (1972)