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The Silver Sword
The Silver Sword | Ian Serraillier, Cyril Walter Hodges
6 posts | 13 read | 7 to read
Classic tale of a family's survival in war-torn Europe.
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review
TheAromaofBooks
Escape from Warsaw | Ian Serraillier
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Pickpick

After purchasing this book for a dime back in 2008, I decided it was finally time to read it 😂 It was a sort of odd little story. A Warsaw family is separated during WWII when the father is sent to a prison camp and their mother is sent to Germany to work on the farms. The children escape and live on the streets. When the father manages to escape prison and make his way back to Warsaw, he can't find his family but leaves a message that he will ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) meet them in Switzerland at his wife's family's home. Most of the story is the children trying to get from Warsaw to Switzerland at the very end and just after the war. Along the way they have picked up another orphan, Jan, who is completely obnoxious and a thief having lived by his wits for so long. It wasn't a bad story, but it was rather disjointed and frequently forwarded by major coincidences. The author says he made up the ⬇ 2y
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) characters but based his story on true ones, and it does have a feel that he pulled together episodes from several different families and rolled them into one. An interesting one-off read, but I don't see myself revisiting it.

My first July book completed, which means my first slot filled for #192025 (1956) @Librarybelle !!
#Pantone2022 @Clwojick
#Roll100 (June) @PuddleJumper
#MtTBR
#BookSpinBingo
2y
PuddleJumper Brilliant! 2y
See All 11 Comments
Eggs I have this book, it was one of the first chapter books I bought from Scholastic classroom book orders in 3rd or 4th grade around 1960–agree it was a bit disjointed but it‘s a sentimental object for me 🧡🧡 2y
Librarybelle Yay! I cannot wait to see the older titles selected for this challenge!! 2y
Clare-Dragonfly Huh, I think I read this as a kid! Maybe a road trip audiobook? It‘s a very shadowy memory… 2y
TheAromaofBooks @Eggs - I know exactly what you mean!! I definitely have books that are extra special because of the connections I have with when I purchased and/or read them. I also think younger readers might enjoy it more because there are a lot of exciting adventures to keep them engaged!! 2y
TheAromaofBooks @Librarybelle - I'm also interested to see what everyone reads!! I'm actually weirdly excited about this challenge 😂 2y
TheAromaofBooks @Clare-Dragonfly - I thought that I had read it as a kid as well, but none of it seemed familiar to me! 2y
Clare-Dragonfly The cover and title aren‘t familiar but you mentioned the obnoxious orphan named Jan and suddenly I remembered everything else 😆 2y
TheAromaofBooks @Clare-Dragonfly - I tried to be sympathetic towards him since he is just a child and went through a lot of trauma, but wow he was obnoxious! 😂 2y
63 likes11 comments
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Lucy_Anywhere
The Silver Sword, Etc | Ian Serraillier
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#TBRPile 📚 “This is the story of a Polish family, and of what happened to them during the Second World War and immediately afterwards.”

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Eggs
Escape from Warsaw | Ian Serraillier
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#ThrowbackReadathon
@monalyisha @Clwojick
This may be the oldest book I own, in all its tattered glory. Purchased through a Scholastic book order for 35 cents, it was my introduction to WWII, Poland invasion, Holocaust. Poland invasion occurred not too long after these photos of my parents and my twin sisters were taken.

Clwojick What a beauty! I love the covers of these later generation books. 7y
monalyisha Those are amazing photos! 7y
69 likes1 stack add2 comments
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LisaJo
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When you take a bookworm to the library. @sameeramirez

TheWordJar I‘m very familiar with the make-yourself-comfortable-on-the-floor, I‘m-going-to-be-here-a-while technique! 7y
39 likes1 comment
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LeahBergen
The Silver Sword | Ian Serraillier, Cyril Walter Hodges
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@Sarah83 wanted to see more of this book. Here you go! 😘

Sarah83 Looks really great. 😍 I understand, why you don't want to share the bookshop. 😉 7y
britt_brooke Beautiful! 7y
TheLudicReader I loved this book as a kid. 7y
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LeahBergen @Sarah83 Right? 😆 7y
LeahBergen @TheLudicReader Oh, good! I missed out on it as a kid but I'm sure I'm going to appreciate it now. 👍🏻 7y
Moray_Reads I remember studying this at school, my English teacher was related the the author 7y
LeahBergen @Moray_Reads Oh, cool! Was it well-liked by your class? 7y
Moray_Reads @LeahBergen I think it was, it was a long time ago but I remember it being an interesting story 7y
andrew61 I read it at school and then read it to one of my daughters. The post war element was interesting as you had a feel of the devastation for lost people- great book, lovely edition. 7y
87 likes1 stack add10 comments
review
SecretLivesOfFictionLovers
The Silver Sword | Ian Serraillier, Cyril Walter Hodges
Pickpick

I remember reading this in secondary school when I was about 12. I remember getting completely immersed in it and feeling all that the characters were feeling whilst following them on their journey. Would love to read this book again to see if I feel the same way about it now as I did back then.