"The Polish Boy" is a story by Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...

 set in his Ender's Game universe

Ender's Game series

The Ender's Game series is a series of science fiction books by Orson Scott Card. The series started with the novelette "Ender's Game", which was later expanded into the novel Ender's Game. It currently consists of eleven novels and ten short stories...

. It tells the story of how John Paul Wieczorek (Ender’s father) as a small child gets tested by the International Fleet and convinces them to get his family out of Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. It first appeared in Card's short story collection, First Meetings

First Meetings

First Meetings is a collection of Orson Scott Card's short stories from the Ender's Game series. The 2003 edition published by Tor Books also includes the story "Teacher's Pest", about the first meeting of Ender's parents.- Story list :The stories in this book are:*...

.

Plot summary

John Paul

John Paul Wiggin

John Paul Wiggin is a fictional character from Orson Scott Card's Ender's game series. He appeared in the original novel Ender's Game, and in several of its sequels: Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, and Ender in Exile. John Paul is a central character in two of the prequel short stories:...

 is a very smart child who is being home schooled because his family refused to comply with the populations control laws. One day, Captain Helena Rudolf from the International Fleet shows up to test three of John Paul’s brothers for possible admission into Battle School. She notices John Paul reading a book and decides to test him early. He passes the test and gets a very high score for leadership. The IF tries to get him to go to Battle School, but John Paul is only interested in trying to get his family out of Poland so that they can have a better life and he can get a good education. Captain Graff realizes this, but agrees to send the Wieczorek family to America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 because he hopes that one of John Paul’s children will go to Battle School.

This story contains younger versions of important characters in the Enderverse, such as Ender's father John Paul Wieczorek

John Paul Wiggin

John Paul Wiggin is a fictional character from Orson Scott Card's Ender's game series. He appeared in the original novel Ender's Game, and in several of its sequels: Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, and Ender in Exile. John Paul is a central character in two of the prequel short stories:...

 (later Wiggin), Hyrum Graff, and Admiral Chamrajnagar. Other characters associated with the IF appear, including Captain Helena Rudolf and Colonel Sillian.

Wieczorek family

• John Paul
• Mother - unnamed
• Father - unnamed
• Peter - oldest brother
• Catherine - oldest sister
• Nicholas - older brother
• Thomas - older brother
• Anna - older sister
• Andrew - older brother
• Two babies - unnamed

International Fleet personnel

• Captain Helena Rudolf - tester
• Colonel Sillian
• Captain Graff
• Captain Chamrajnagar
• Russian general - unnamed

External links

• About the story "The Polish Boy" - from Card’s website