Books to Read While Physically Distancing: Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

Did you know that your Galesburg Public Library card allows you to check out e-books and audio books through the Libby app? All you need is your library card and your PIN (your birth date in MMDDYYYY format) and you'll be on your way to reading on your phone or tablet!  

Books to Read While Physically Distancing (BtRWPD) will focus on books available for checkout through Libby.


Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
by Kwame Mbalia
New York: Disney Hyperion, 2019 

'Power, boy! It's all about power. You control the story, you control the narrative, you control power.'

Seventh grader Tristan has just lost his best friend Eddie in a tragic accident. He's also just lost his first boxing match, disappointing his father and grandfather, both former champions. He leaves Chicago with his grandparents to spend some time on the family farm in Alabama, in hopes that he can work through his grief. He brings Eddie's journal with him. No one else seems to notice that it's glowing. That night he finds Gum Baby, from his Nana's stories, stealing his journal. Giving chase, he ends up in the woods and falls into a world inhabited by African American folk heroes and West African gods. When he tore a hole in the sky, Tristan brought a great evil with him. Can he save the world and make his way back home?

Rick Riordan is well-known for his series dealing with Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology. In his 'Rick Riordan Presents' series, he uses his experience and platform with Disney to highlight and publish authors from underrepresented backgrounds and cultures who have amazing stories to tell. Tristan Strong is one of those stories. It's the debut novel from Kwame Mbalia and it is incredible.

The world building is fantastic. Here are folk heroes, like John Henry and Brer Rabbit, and gods, like Anansi the Weaver, in a land shadowed by the horrors of the slave trade. The characters are believable, the action is fast paced, and the dialog and narration flow smoothly. While listed as 'middle grade' (grades 3-7), I would absolutely recommend this for teens and adults as well. It kept my interest, which is a difficult thing for a book to do in these troubled times. A sequel is due out in October, and I'll definitely be picking it up.