• Age: 12 to 18
• Grade: 7 to 12

A Quill and Quire Best Book of the Year

In this stunning graphic novel, Lacuna is a girl without a family, a past, or a proper home. She lives alone in a swamp made of ink, but with the help of Polaris, a will-o'-the-wisp, she embarks for the fabled Northern Kingdom, where she might find people like her. The only way to get there, though, is to travel the strange and dangerous Blue Road that stretches to the horizon like a mark upon a page. Along the way, Lacuna must overcome trials such as the twisted briars of the Thicket of Tickets and the intractable guard at the Rainbow Border. At the end of her treacherous journey, she reaches a city where memory and vision can be turned against you, in a world of dazzling beauty, divisive magic, and unlikely deliverance. Finally, Lacuna learns that leaving, arriving, returning - they're all just different words for the same thing: starting all over again.

The Blue Road - the first graphic novel by acclaimed poet and prose writer Wayde Compton and illustrator April dela Noche Milne - explores the world from a migrant's perspective with dreamlike wonder.

Wayde Compton is the author of two books of poetry, 49th Parallel Psalm (Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize finalist) and Performance Bond. He also edited the anthology Bluesprint: Black British Columbian Literature and Orature. His non-fiction book After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing, and Region was shortlisted for the City of Vancouver Book Award. His first work of fiction, The Outer Harbour, will be published in fall 2014. Wayde is the director of the Writer's Studio and the Southbank Writer's Program at Simon Fraser University Continuing Studies. He lives in Vancouver.

Wayde Compton's profile page

April dela Noche Milne is a Filipino Canadian artist based in Vancouver. She studied fine arts at Langara College and graduated with a BFA in illustration from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Her illustrations have been featured in Ricepaper, EVENT, and Briarpatch magazines. The Blue Road is her first graphic novel.

April dela Noche Milne's profile page

The prose harvested from Wayde Compton's short story for this graphic-novel adaptation only emphasizes the creativity of the plot in his heroine's journey to the Northern Kingdom, a pointed immigration allegory. But it's April dela Noche Milne's vibrant illustrations - pools of saturated colours that contrast with squiggles of energetic line work - that give the story new life. -Quill and Quire (A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR)

With a tone that recalls classic fantasy stories, and some clever choices in symbolism, The Blue Road seems like a must-read for younger people as well as adults. -The Comics Beat