Review: Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky is the kind of book that makes me want to read middle-grade adventure for the rest of time. It perfectly captures the sense of adventure and magic that made me deeply love to read when I was in middle school. It is such a deft balance of the whimsey of a childhood adventure story and a serious allegory tackling racism and colonization. It is also way more than that; it is hilarious and has fantastic character development and an excellent plot. In summary, I really like this book.
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky is about seventh-grader Tristan Strong, who travels from his home in Chicago to his grandparent’s farm in Alabama after the death of his best friend, Eddie, earlier that year. Once at the farm, the glowing journal Eddie left Tristan is stollen by Gum Baby, and Tristan, in trying to retrieve it, falls through the sky of another world. A world where Black American folk heroes are gods (and have some tension going on with African gods also inhabiting this world).
Mbalia sweeps the reader away on a frankly awesome journey. The book is laugh out loud funny, while also having its central message be about dealing with grief in a way that doesn’t destroy you. But back to the funny thing, if you like the humor of the Rick Riordan books, there is no way you won’t find Mbalia’s story and dialogue hilarious. He doesn’t mimic Riordan by any means; he just has a hilarious and strong middle-grade voice that made me feel the same sense of delight Riordan’s did when I was much younger.
The book is the kind of complex that bad middle grade shies away from, both in terms of plot and character development. Mbalia does not condescend to his readers, but rather expertly presents his story and message in a clear and understandable way for young and old readers alike. This is an impressive skill in any author but is especially awesome coming as a debut novel. I am beyond excited to read more.
This book has been enough to convince me to be a dedicated Mbalia fan; I look forward to reading whatever he publishes after the Tristan Strong series is concluded, and obviously, I am incredibly eager to finish reading this trilogy! Tristan Strong Destroys the World is out on October 8th, 2020, and I imagine I will be reading it immediately upon its release. Reading this book has also made me decide to read all the books published by Rick Riordan Presents, which is my first ever dedicated publisher reading challenge for myself.
I rated this book 5 stars and have already recommended it to tons of people in my actual life, so I clearly also recommend it to you.
