• Age: 11 to 18
• Grade: 6 to 12

See below for English description.

Sam Frederisksen, 18 ans, vient des prairies. Il est mitrailleur à bord d'un bombardier Lancaster pendant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. Lorsque son avion est abattu par l'ennemi au-dessus de la France, il survit de justesse et parvient à joindre la Résistance française. Victimes d'une trahison, Sam et des soldats d'autres pays sont bientôt capturés par la Gestapo, puis envoyés à Fresne, une prison aux abords de Paris.

Considérés comme des espions, les prisonniers sont battus, certains torturés, avant d'être transportés au camp de concentration de Buchenwald, en Allemagne. Dans cet endroit sinistre, Sam découvre les horreurs de la Guerre : les chambres à gaz, la torture et la famine, mais aussi le courage et la détermination des nombreuses victimes.

Eighteen-year-old Sam Frederiksen has come a long way from the Prairies. Trained to be a gunner in a Lancaster bomber during WWII, he is shot down over France. Battered and bruised, he does survive, and joins forces with the French Resistance only to be betrayed by one of its members. He and other flyers from various Allied countries are rounded up by the Gestapo and held in Fresnes prison just outside of Paris.

Treated as spies, rather than POWs, these men are beaten, some tortured and then sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp in eastern Germany. It is here, in these wretched conditions, that Sam witnesses the darkest side of humanity - gas chambers, torture and starvation. Yet it is also here that he comes to understand the true resilience and unfathomable courage of the victims.

Original Title: I Am Canada: Behind Enemy Lines

Carol Matas is an internationally acclaimed author of over thirty-five novels for children and young adults. Her best-selling work, which includes three award-winning series, has been translated into Spanish, Japanese, Taiwanese, Turkish, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, German, French, Indonesian and Russian.
A graduate of the Actor's Lab, in London England, Carol first earned a B.A. (English) from The University of Western Ontario. Her teaching experience includes Artists in the School, Manitoba Arts Council;visiting professor at Bemidji State University, Minnesota; and a Creative Writing instructor, Continuing Education Division, The University of Winnipeg. Carol is an inspiring and passionate speaker who is frequently invited to address children and adults alike across North America.
Carol writes contemporary and historical fiction, as well as science fiction and fantasy. She first began writing historical fiction when her Danish husband told her stories about his parents' experiences fighting the Nazis in World War II. She has often written about Jewish themes, and is well known for her books concerning the Holocaust, writing Daniel's Story at the request of The United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. Over the years, her knack for successfully infusing serious and thought-provoking issues into an action-driven format has kept readers of all ages engaged.
The list of awards for her books is long, and includes two Sydney Taylor awards, The Geoffrey Bilson award, a Silver Birch award, The Jewish Book Award, as well as the inclusion of her books on many honour lists, such as the ALA notable list, The New York Times Review notable list, The New York Public Library list for the Teen Age, and the Voya books in the middle, Best Book list. She has also been nominated for the Governor General Award twice.
More information is about Carol is available on her web site: http://www.carolmatas.com.

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