**4.5-stars rounded up**Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky is a debut! Really!? I need a moment to wrap my mind around that.This is a hella ambitious first novel. I am really dang impressed. Kwame Mbalia, you should be proud! With the initial swooning out of the way, let's get into the review, shall we?Tristan Strong, a 7th-grader from Chicago, has been having a real tough time recently. After losing his best friend, Eddie, in a horrific bus crash, Tristan is struggling with his grief and

Finished reading this at work tonight! Such a great first book by Kwame! Super excited for the sequel now!(:

oh how I love adventurous middle-grades full of witty characters, twists and turns, and lush mythology.

Don’t get me wrong. Greek myths are great! But you can’t swing a gorgon’s head in any bookstore without hitting at least a dozen Greek-myth-inspired books. Try finding great adventures based on Western African gods and heroes like Nyame or Anansi. Try finding stories about modern kids who encounter African-American folk legends like High John, John Henry and Brer Rabbit. Those books are a lot harder to locate, despite that fact that millions of kids would relate to those gods and heroes even mor...

I received a copy of this book for free as part of an Instagram tour (Storygram Tours specifically) I did to promote the book. So first off I just want to say that it is incredibly refreshing to read a book about mythology that isn’t Greek. I know very little about African/African American mythology so it was fun to learn about it through reading this book. Since this is the first book in a new series, it is a little slow. That is understandable since there is a lot of world building and set-up

4.5 starsStories are a kind of magic. This is no such average story—it IS magic. Concepts: ★★★★★Characters: ★★★★★Pacing: ★★★Enjoyment: ★★★★★ Let's say there was a land where the People once lived... Sometimes there are stories that you didn't know needed to be in your bones until you hear them crackle in your head with the force of thunder. Their rightness sits in your skin and you feel the chills hit your shoulders and travel down your body with the sense of "I'm here, let me tell you a story...

------------------VIDEO REVIEW------------------ 4/10/19FINISHED! What a story, I laughed and I cried, but I mainly laughed! So fun to read a book about African gods!! :D My review will be up next week!! ;)2/10/19A HUGE thank you to Disney Hyperion for gifting me a copy of this book! #Blessed30/3/19Did I hear that correctly? Black American Gods??? My gosh this book sounds so good!! I can't wait!You can find me onYoutube | Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Website

UPDATE: It looks like the author is finally getting his own copyright, with Last Gate of the Emperor soon to be released. The cover look awesome and the story sounds great; I am all in for the MC's bionic lioness. UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Nope, his new book is also from Cake Literary; although its co-author (the great-grandson of the last emperor of Ethiopia) gets shared copyright with Cake, none for Kwame! ***********************************************It's a pretty good middle-grade book, with ab...

Much different than I was expecting, but still a wild ride! I loved Tristan so much!!

this book didn't pull any punches (pun intended) and hit all the right places. i love the pacing very much and it has a lot of action-packed scenes that kept my restless brain engaged. i also adore the characters and the humor in the dialogue. gum baby is obviously the star of this book and im looking forward to seeing more of her in the sequel. i don't really know much about african american folktales and west african mythology so it was a pleasure to be introduced to all these interesting stor...

DUUUUDE. I don't even care that it's MG, Imma read it

Wow. What an important series. I am so thankful for Rick Riordan’s ability to raise other amazing writers up. This book was a wild ride and I loved it. Mythology has never been one of my favorite genres, but this book was just incredible. We get to travel with Tristan through African (and African American) mythology and legends while he also learns to heal from his own loss. Loved it. Loved how much I learned about some myths/legends and folklore that I had never been exposed to, and I can’t wai...

Somehow, this book had me laughing, crying, and screaming “WHOA, plot twist” at my family. I very much underestimated this book. I think because it’s technically a middle-grade read, I was expecting it to be slow, easy, and predictable. Let me tell you, it was none of the above. I’m not even sure where to begin here, so let’s just go with the characters. Tristan is the most developed protagonist I have read about in a long while. I loved that he wasn’t sure of himself in every step of his quest...

This book truly captures the heart of middle grade for me: the lovable characters, the fun adventures, and the humor, all paired with important themes and messages. Generational trauma and the importance of remembering the pains of the past were tackled so well here, especially for the target audience of children, as well as general themes of grief and guilt. Tristan was such a wonderful protagonist, a kid who wants to be a hero but still with fears and doubts, especially because of how he belie...

4.14 on CAWPILE

I hate to feel so lukewarm about a book coming from such a cool storytelling tradition (as soon as I saw that it's based on African-American folklore, I was all over it), but honestly it was a slog. It is a very long book for middle grade, with lots of locations, characters, and SYMBOLISM.The best parts of the story were in the beginning, where Tristan is interacting with his family. I think Tristan's recurring thoughts on adults are a great theme - adults are always telling him what to do, with...

I never wanted to be a superhero as a child, but I wanted to do heroic things. Tristan Strong epitomizes the dreams of young black children who want to do and be both; be heroes/heroines and do heroic things. Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky is the Harry Potter for young black children. (A heavy claim, I know.) It is a grabbing combination of African folklore, African American history, African mythology, and the innate magic that is Blackness.Tristan Strong just lost his best friend. His...

**EDIT 2/4/2019**Y'all this cover gave me CHILLS. Like real, legit chills. **EDIT 10/12/2019**SWEET PEACHES THAT WAS GOOD! Real review to come.**EDIT 10/24/19**You can find more of my reviews here at my blog: Take Me Away...I have started and restarted this review so many times. I even had to stop one night so I could sleep on it. But I just didn't think I could get this review right. There's so much in this book tto hhat I didn't think I'd ever see in a book, let alone one for kids. Tristan St...

Poignant. Wonderful. And so necessary for the young ones coming up, needing to see themselves in stories full of adventure, magic, and truth.