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Hi! I’m Penelope and today, I’m writing on my mommy’s blog about a book I just read called Tristan Strong a Hole in The Sky by Kwame Mbalia. She told me that I’m supposed to write in my reading journal about this too, so I’m doing this first. We also made a video about it too!
We were provided the book from the Disney Book Group, but all thoughts are mine!
My mommy said that she is going to put all of the pictures and videos into the blog post for me.
Tristan is in 7th grade and his best friend Eddie dies during a crash. My uncle Daniel died because of a crash, and reading about this in the story made me a little sad. Tristan’s parents sent him to Alabama to stay with his grandparents so that he didn’t have to think about the accident and Eddie.
This book took me a bit of time to read. I started it last year, and read for bits of time in the car, or when I was supposed to be sleeping. I’m getting faster with reading, and I’m happy that I finished it and I’ve moved to another series until Tristan Strong Destroys the World comes out!
I do love a book that makes me really use my imagination. I had to ask my mom a couple of times about word meanings, mostly from the fables or mythological characters in the book. If she wasn’t around, I used our Echo Dot for Kids. That thing is neat! I’m still trying to get mommy to load Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky to our account so I can read along while listening to the book.
There were a couple of surprises in the book that I enjoyed. One was learning who the real bad guy was – or the antagonist as mommy calls them. We know that the good guy is Tristan, and that he is already angry because his best friend died.
This book is supposed to be for middle schoolers, but I enjoyed it a lot, and I’m only 9 years old. My mother calles me Mother Nicholes, which means I act like an old lady sometimes.
The book has a great cover too! I really like seeing what the author and illustrator came up with for Tristan and John Henry, because I imagined them a totally different way. Mommy says that’s the fun of books. You can use your imagination to think about what the characters look like even if they are shown to you in a picture or a movie.
That’s all I have to say about the book! Now mommy says she’s going to take over. Thanks for reading what I have to say!
Tristan Strong Punches A Hole In The Sky
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. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he’s going to spend on his grandparents’ farm in Alabama, where he’s being sent to heal from the tragedy. But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie’s notebook. Tristan chases after it–is that a doll?–and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature’s hands, 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 this world. Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left black American folk heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted. In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky. But bartering with the trickster Anansi always comes at a price. Can Tristan save this world before he loses more of the things he loves?
If you’re a subscriber to the Amazon Prime Book Box for Kids you can get books like this every 1, 2, or 3 months. The first box is $16.99 and $19.99 for each box after the first, at the pace you set.
So, have you read Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky? What did you think of it? Let us know below! Hurry up and read it because Tristan Strong Destroys the World is coming October 6th and you want to be ready! Click below to pre-order!
LISA MEIDL says
I loved your mother/daughter bookish conversation about this great book!