hey everyone! I’m so excited to be partnering today with CAKE Literary and Disney Books to discuss Tristan Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia! I love middle grade books and especially ones with great characters and Tristan Punches a Hole in the Sky has both! As a bonus benefit, I love Rick Riordan so any title that he edits is on my must-read list and I’m so glad that I picked this one up!
About the Book
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
Kwame Mbalia
October 15th 2019
Add it on Goodreads!
Seventh-grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he’s going to spend on his grandparents’ farm in Alabama, where he’s being sent to heal from the tragedy. But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie’s journal. Tristan chases after it-–is that a doll?-–and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature’s hands, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world. Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left black American gods John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted. In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky. But bartering with the trickster Anansi always comes at a price. Can Tristan save this world before he loses more of the things he loves?
About the Author
Kwame is a husband, father, writer, and pharmaceutical metrologist in that order. His debut middle-grade novel, TRISTAN STRONG PUNCHES A HOLE IN THE SKY (October 15, 2019) is published by Rick Riordan Presents/Disney-Hyperion. A Howard University graduate and a Midwesterner now in North Carolina, he enjoys impromptu dance sessions and Cheezits.
Review
A book with a cover as amazing as the one above should be magnificent and Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky did not disappoint!
Tristan Strong is not looking forward to spending the summer on his grandparents’ farm in Alabama, where he’ll try and recover from the loss of his best friend Eddie. All he has left is Eddie’s journal, where Eddie has been faithfully recording down stories that have been passed down through generations. But when the journal starts glowing and a creature attempts to steal it from Tristan, Tristan finds himself falling through sky into a world called MidPass. There, he meets the very gods that Eddie wrote about.
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky was so well written and I really liked Tristan. He felt like such a real character and I think that many readers will be able to relate to him. All of the characters were so well written and had such strong voices, I really admired all of their complexities. The world building in Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky was also really well done. I think the mythology was so well written and many readers will just enjoy this fun, but slightly serious, adventure story.
I also really liked the way this book ended. It ended in a way that didn’t leave too many loose strings so I wanted more but without the agony of a cliffhanger. This amazing first book will make readers want to read more West African mythology and I am so excited for all of the readers who will be able to see themselves in Tristan.
