I finally got a chance to upload the book posters to Flickr, with links to the original images that we adapted. All of our 'poster' blog posts include an image credit and link, but I wanted to include one at the source too.

(Still TBD: additional images used in our book trailers.)

And, here are two credits that are listed on the copyright page of the book (with the links spelled out), but haven't yet appeared on the blog:

The following 2 people were kind enough to make their photos available to all under a Creative Commons "by" attribution license, including taking the risk that adaptations do not do justice to the originals.

• jmegjmeg: freight car + burner
• MarmotChaser: Autumn in Pennsylvania

Thanks also to Flickr for providing a CC-BY search page.

The above image should be easy to read, but here's the text in case it's useful:

Der Marktplatz war etwas erleuchtet, und als ich an einer Hauswand entlangschlich, blieb ich plötzlich wie angewurzelt stehen, starrte an die Wand ... Mein eigenes Bild blickte mich an, darunter stand meine Personalbeschreibung – kalt lief es mir den Rücken herunter; das Gefühl, vor dem eigenen Steckbrief zu stehen, ist nur schwer zu beschreiben; aber ich hatte nicht lange Zeit, meinen Gefühlen nachzuhängen, - nur schnell aus diesem Ort hinaus, dachte ich und eilte weiter.

The market place was barely lit and while sneaking along the wall of a building, I stopped suddenly as if rooted to the ground, stared at the wall ... My own picture looked back at me, underneath was my description – chills ran down my back; the feeling of standing in front of your own wanted poster is quite hard to describe; but I didn’t have a long time to dwell on my feelings, - just quickly get out of this place, I thought and hurried along.

I think the book has unusually broad appeal. Granted, I'm now writing as the publisher. But my enthusiasm after reading the text is what turned me into a publisher!

First and foremost, Canadian Escapades is a great story. There's plenty of action, balanced by the little details that bring scenes to life. It's a tale of courage and daring, without glossing over the nervousness and moments of despair. It's about longing for freedom, and working hard to obtain it.

It's a true story, packed with the combination of setbacks and lucky breaks that one expects from a carefully plotted novel.

I think you'll like it, even if you usually skip categories like action/adventure, survival, memoir, history, WWII, military life, reluctant reader, or German. The book is a quick read -- the equivalent of about 60 pages in each language (with English and German presented side-by-side, aligned by sentence).

It's a great gift for (nearly?) everyone on your holiday list! You can purchase directly from (updated) our store or from Amazon.com. The "look inside" feature works; read a few pages and see what you think.

If you do enjoy some of the genres mentioned above, then read on for details.

# # #

Action and adventure: 3 different escapes, each from a different camp using different tricks. Every chapter brings something new.

Survival: injury, cold, hunger, thirst ... and then triumph against the elements.

Memoir: the author tells the story in his own words, covering what happened and his personal reflections.

History: the book provides direct insight into the little-known topic of POWs in North America. (It's not a book of facts and figures; we'll be covering some of those here on the blog.)

WWII: it's a familiar tale ... with the roles reversed. (However, the book is NOT about the war itself, nor about the German perspective. It makes no attempt to address the awful realities taking place on the other side of the ocean.)

Military life: the story shows how members of the military go out of their way to help those on the same side (both colleagues and strangers) -- and also the respect and fair treatment that is often given to those on the other side.

Reluctant readers: the book is short, fast-paced and "high interest", so should hold the attention of many people (high school and beyond) who struggle with other books. The vocabulary is diverse, but words that are less common should be clear in context. (There are a FEW mild curse words, and a historically-accurate acceptance of smoking that some parents may want to explain.)

Bilingual (dual-language): I realize that only a small portion of our English-speaking readers happen to be learning German. But I want people to be able to share the book without regard to language.

If you have questions, please ask!

(Post updated to link to our new store. Updated again to add bold.)