• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7

A dramatic Arctic adventure set during Sir John Franklin's doomed search for the Northwest Passage

George Chambers is a fourteen-year-old aboard HMS Erebus, one of two ships under the command of Sir John Franklin on his quest to discover the Northwest Passage. But when the Erebus and Terror are trapped in crushing ice, 129 men of the crew die from cold, scurvy, and starvation.

Only two remain alive when George begins to recount his story: himself and Commander James Fitzjames. As his strength dwindles and starvation weakens him, George recalls the events that led him to Canada's desolate North, and the expedition's failure — including gravediggers, a close call with a polar bear, standing up against sailors threatening mutiny, and his own impending death.

George does not know whether the story he tells will be all that survives of Franklin's doomed Arctic expedition.

John Wilson was born in 1951 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He did his early growing up on the Island of Skye and in Paisley, near Glasgow. From 1969 to 1974, he attended the University of St. Andrews where he took an Honours B.Sc.. in Geology and never played golf once. He took a position with the Geological Survey of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). In his two years there, he mapped rocks, dodged land mines and watched the country sink ever deeper into civil war. Shortly before he was due to be called into the army, John retreated back to Britain on his way to the safety of Canada. He settled on Calgary where geology was booming and the only danger was freezing to death in January. In 1979, he moved to Edmonton to take up a post with the Alberta Geological Survey. In 1988 he sold a feature article to the Globe and Mail. This fueled a smouldering mid-life crisis and he took up freelance writing full-time. With some success, John mined the experiences of his travels for articles, journalism and photo essays. He even began to express himself poetically and, with a young family, began writing children's stories. He moved to Nanaimo and then Lantzville on Vancouver Island. John has been widely published by a number of Canadian presses, with his acolades including a shortlisting for the Governor General’s Award.

John Wilson's profile page

• Short-listed, Hackmatack Children's Choice Award (Atlantic Canada)
• Commended, Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre

Praise for I Am Canada: Shot at Dawn:

"The powerful writing and strong characters will grip readers from beginning to end, and hopefully provoke some thoughtful discussion about this pivotal moment in history." —Quill & Quire

"The author nails the essence of a tempestuous period [and] the writing is immaculate." —The National Post

"This is a haunting story that keeps the reader riveted even knowing the outcome in advance."—CM: Canadian Review of Materials