Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky By Kwame Mbalia | Beautiful Blackbird Children's Book Festival

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

By Kwame Mbalia

Winner of a Coretta Scott King Author Honor

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.

Tristan travels to Alabama to his grandparents’ farm, and on his first night there, a creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie’s notebook. Tristan chases after it and they wrestle underneath a Bottle Tree. During the fight, 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 Earth.

Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that Black folk heroes have been fighting for centuries. In order to get back home, Tristan and his new allies will need to entice the god Anansi to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky.

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Kwame Mbalia

Kwame is a husband, father, writer, a New York Times bestselling author, and a former pharmaceutical metrologist in that order. His debut middle-grade novel, TRISTAN STRONG PUNCHES A HOLE IN THE SKY was awarded a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, and it—along with the sequels TRISTAN STRONG DESTROYS THE WORLD and the untitled third book—is published by Rick Riordan Presents/Disney-Hyperion. He is the co-author of LAST GATE OF THE EMPEROR with Prince Joel Makonnen coming May 4th from Scholastic Books, and the editor of BLACK BOY JOY, a middle-grade anthology coming August 3rd from Delacorte, an imprint of Penguin Random House. A Howard University graduate and a Midwesterner now in North Carolina, he survives on Dad jokes and Cheezits.

Watch

This complex story takes the reader on a journey through time, space, and place in the most thrilling and action-packed way. As you read through the book, take note of all of the mythical and folklore characters Tristan encounters. Before reading this book, had you ever heard of Anansi? John Henry? What makes these characters so powerful, important, and special? How are these characters connected to African and African-American histories and legacies?

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

Make/Do/Learn

Creating Characters

West African gods and African American folk heroes populate the land of Alke, the world formerly earth-bound Tristan Strong falls into. The characters’ bravado, humor, resilience, trickery, and majesty jump off the page with each turn of the tale. Kwame Mbalia built these characters trait by trait, draft by draft. Discover your own characters with this collage activity. Who will populate your story?

FREE WRITING WORKSHOP!

Creative Characters: Writing Workshop

This writing workshop will use Kwame Mbalia’s story Tristan Strong Punches a Hole In The Sky as inspiration for some character creation. Mbalia’s book is full of memorable characters: from West African gods and African American folk heroes to the central character himself: Tristan, who discovers that he has fantastic powers too. Together we will create our own mythical characters, using collage and some tried and true techniques by Telling Room teachers. These characters can then be used to develop a story, a tale, a game…wherever your imagination takes you!

For youth ages 10-16
September 1st, 4:30pm-5:45pm
Children’s Museum and Theater of Maine

Join us on Wednesdays August 4th, September 1st and 8th
from 4:30pm-5:45pm for three free workshops led by
Telling Room teaching artists.