This conference paper explores the creative process behind the development of The Stolen Button picture book focusing on the themes of migration, displacement, and the representation of multicultural stories in an Australian landscape. The Silk Road is a historical location, a cultural melting point where East meets West. This transport corridor facilitated the exchange of goods but more importantly, it transmitted ideas and stories. Classic tales such as Journey to the West and Aladdin have their roots along the Silk Road. However, the authors do not use the Silk Road as a realistic backdrop. It is an imaginative space to portray an exotic other, a wilderness, a place to face demons, spirits and foes. Likewise, the Silk Road of our imagination is a fantastical place – a hybrid garden of Chinese stories from childhood memories of the author of the book mixed with illustrative elements from the illustrator’s Persian painting background.