Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, published by Kwame Mbalia in 2019, is the first novel in a middle-grade fantasy trilogy. Set in modern-day Chicago, Alabama, and the mythical lands of Alke, the novel is the hero’s journey of Tristan Strong, a seventh grader coming to terms with the death of his best friend. The novel is a winner of the 2020 Coretta Scott King honor book for contributions to Black children’s literature. This guide is based on the Disney/Hyperion print edition. Readers should note that the book includes fantasy violence, brief representations of death, and discussion of the Middle Passage and slavery in America.

Plot Summary

Tristan Strong travels from Chicago to the family farm in Alabama with his grandparents Alvin and Nana Strong. His trip is his parents’ latest effort to help him emerge from the depression he feels after Eddie, his best friend, dies in an accident during a school trip with Tristan and his classmates. Tristan has long been fascinated by the folktales Nana told him and he collected them with Eddie as a part of a school project. Soon after Tristan’s arrival at the Strong farm, Gum Baby, an impudent little thief from the land of Alke, attempts to steal a strange journal that glows and is the only memento of Eddie that Tristan has.