Fantasy: Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia. Disney Publishing Group, Sept 2020. 528 pages, $17.99, 9781368039932.

    Tristan Strong does not feel strong. He is a third-generation boxer who lost his first match. He also blames himself for not saving Eddie, his best friend, from a bus accident. All he has left is the journal full of the African stories they recorded together. Dealing with grief, his grandparents take him from Chicago to Alabama to work and heal. But strange things start to happen. The journal starts to glow. Later that night, Gum Baby, a swearing baby, breaks in and steals the journal. Tristian chases Gum Baby through the forest, and a tug of war ensues underneath the Bottle Tree. Tristan punches the tree, accidentally opening a chasm into MidPass and releasing the Maafa into Alke. Like in a traditional fairy tale, Tristan falls through the hole and into MidPass, a dangerous place with burning seas, bone ships, and iron monsters called Featherlings. MidPass is part of Alke, where African and African-American gods and heroes exist. Tristan must help mythological figures like John Henry, Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Anasi defeat the Maafa and the featherlings, seal the hole in the sky, and find a way home.

    The setting is original and appropriate for the story. Alke is descriptive and magical, full of places of utter beauty and nightmares. This world connects to the real world through the stories humanity shares. This connection helps move the story from reality to the imaginative world without breaking credibility. The setting is also grounded in history. Midpass is a place where gods from the Old and New World intersect. Midpass symbolizes the Middle Passage between the Old World in Africa and the New World in the Americas. King Cotton and the Featherlings represent slavery. Other mythological figures who live in Alke also connect to Tristan. They come from the stories his grandmother used to tell him. Coincidentally, Eddie and Tristian also recorded these figures in the journal. The supernatural aspect of the story has credibility because the mythological figures are grounded in myth and history. The author takes these mythological figures and humanizes them with strength and faults. 

    The story deals with universal truths such as grief. Tristan is struggling to cope with the death of his friend. With the help of the friends he made at MidPass, Tristian learns to manage his grief and accept that he is not responsible for the death of Eddie. He can remember his friend while learning to move on. Storytelling and myths are other themes. Mbalia introduces readers to African and African-American mythological figures across various time periods. Stories themselves also have power. Tristan’s ability to weave stories to life is a superpower. The prevalence of these stories also shows how these stories survive and acknowledge slavery. Overall, this fast-paced, emotional story teaches readers to find strength despite adversity and the power of healing from grief. It is a great story to learn about African mythological figures.