Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky is the first book in Kwame Mbalia's middle-grade fantasy trilogy, published in the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. Seventh-grader Tristan Strong has just lost his first boxing match and his best friend Eddie in a bus accident. Sent to spend a month with his grandparents on their Alabama farm, he gets into a tussle with a small thieving creature and accidentally punches a hole in the bottom of the sky. He and a sticky doll named Gum Baby fall into Alke, a world where Anansi the spider, Brer Rabbit, John Henry, and the West African orisha live alongside a darker memory: the Maafa, an enormous bone ship carrying the souls of the Middle Passage. Mbalia weaves African American and West African storytelling traditions into a propulsive adventure that does not flinch from the histories underneath the magic.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A month after losing his best friend Eddie in a bus crash, seven-year-old Tristan Strong is sent to his grandparents' farm in Alabama.
Yes. Kwame Mbalia's Tristan Strong trilogy is part of the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. The series draws on African and African American mythology, including Anansi, Brer Rabbit, and John Henry.
Kwame Mbalia's Tristan Strong trilogy has three books: Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, Tristan Strong Destroys the World, and Tristan Strong Keeps Punching. The trilogy is complete.
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky was written by Kwame Mbalia, published in 2019 by disney press.
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky is 496 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky takes most readers 7 to 11 hours to finish.
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky is a standalone novel by Kwame Mbalia, not part of a series.
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.