Wisp has a learning problem: he can't read stars.

For a juvenile nighthawk bursting with wanderlust this means trouble, with his peers, his parents, and the starving colony that tries to fence him in. So he ditches everyone, striking off on a forbidden migratory journey from the Amazon to the Arctic, alone — or so he thinks. Crossing two continents, he wings above South America's soaring Andes Mountains, over the belching mouth of Mexico's Popocatépetl volcano, across the searing Arizona desert, up to the steaming Alberta tar sands, then steers farther north than any nighthawk before him. Can Wisp beat the odds against him? Without the help of stars, can he navigate one of the longest, most treacherous migration routes on Earth?

Award-winning fiction writer Jamie Bastedo spins a high-flying adventure that weaves together themes of family and friendship, courage and perseverance, against the backdrop of our fast-changing world where it's tougher than ever just being a bird.

Jamie Bastedo, former CBC North host and author of Shield Country: The Life and Times of the Oldest Piece of the Planet, Reaching North: A Celebration of the Subarctic and Blue Lake and Rocky Shores, reflects on the charm and mystery of the Canadian Shield. He writes to inform and to inspire, telling a "story of place." He lives in Yellowknife, NWT and operates a touring company that takes tourists on tours of the North and also runs an environmental consulting company.

Jamie Bastedo's profile page

• Runner-up, Rocky Mountain Book Award