Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia’s epic fantasy, a middle grade American Gods set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods. 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 … 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?
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Tristan Strong not only punched a hole in the sky he punched a hole in my heart… I’m a fifth grader and read this book 5 times! Gum Baby is a living TERROR, shes so unique and doesn’t care what you think of her she does what she want
TRISTAN STRONG became my role model! Thank you for being the light that found me in the darkness!
Easily my favorite RR Presents book to date. Fun mythology and a very relatable protagonist made this a joy to read. So many books like this have the “hero” embracing his hero role 50 pages is. Tristan’s self doubt was played out masterfully and believably, making for a very engaging story. Not to mention Gum Baby stealing the show every other page. Can’t wait to see where the next book goes!
THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! On top of being a wonderful middle grade adventure with a strong character journey and lots of cool settings and monsters, it was great to see so many great black American folk heroes and gods. Gum Baby is incredible.
As an adult reader, there were a couple things I wish were explained better, but I doubt any middle graders would bat an eye.
In my humble opinion, Tristan Strong is one of, if not the, best middle grade book of 2019. The inclusion of heroic black characters of fable, such as John Henry, High John, Nyame, Brer Fox, and Anansi, is something I’ve never seen before. Tristan is a highly sympathetic character, and is one of the few “chosen one” type characters I know of to actually stand up to an adult character and point out how ridiculous it is to hold a child responsible for things that he has no reason to know anything about.
Then there was Gum Baby. I wanted to hate her, because she reminded me of Scrappy in the Scooby Doo cartoons. I hate Scrappy to an unhealthy level. Gum Baby is loud and braggy like Scrappy, but when you get past all that, she’s endearing and heroic.
I enjoyed this book so much, and can’t wait for the next in the series!
This is my favorite book to read! Couldn’t stop reading it! Highly recommend! So much action! I connected with the characters so well!
Oh, boy, where to start with this book. Okay, it’s been on my TBR pile since it came out, and honestly, I bought it for the cover (I do that a lot). And, judging the book by the cover, I thought it was a superhero book. Well, it’s not, really, I mean there’s heroes, of course, but not the tight wearing, brooding in shadows type. So, the story was a surprise. A good one.
I was hooked in the first few pages, as Tristan is a boxer, or was trying to be. Instantly related just on that so I was in. Then the story does that thing that I live for. It takes you someplace you’ve never been. Trust me, you won’t know what’s coming. What does come is a tense, action adventure with lots of characters that zoom to life. And you’ll love every second of it. At four hundred and eighty pages the book isn’t long enough. Thankfully, book two is out now.
You’ll probably recognize, or at least heard of some of the characters in this book. But, boy, howdy, you haven’t seen ‘em like this. And you’re going to fall in love with a lot of them, especially Gum Baby. Tristan’s personality rivets you to every moment with plenty of humor, but never overshadows his struggles.
Honestly, who needs Netflix with books like this?
So much fun to read this book. I love that it has West African gods and heroes, ones that a lot of people are not familiar with. What made this one bittersweet for me was reading our folk legends like John Henry who’s story I always love to read no matter how old I get. I found the blending of the two to be really great and creating this fantastical world that I really enjoyed reading. Tristan is a great character that I think young kids could connect with as he deals with grief, fear, guilt, and strength. His adventure will have you so absorbed and lost in the story that you’ll be sad when its all over. The other characters that Tristan meets along the way were awesome. I have to say Gum Baby kept me thoroughly entertained and in hysterics.
Definitely give this book a read or hand it to your niece, nephew, cousin, brother, or sister. So worth the read and will keep any young reader entertained.
Tristan Strong is mourning the death of his best friend Eddie so his parents are sending him to visit his grandparents in Alabama for a few weeks. He wakes on his first night there to find that a sticky living doll, who calls herself Gum Baby, is stealing Eddie’s writing journal. Tristan tries to catch her and retrieve the stories but instead he accidentally punches a hole in the sky of a mythical land peopled by figures from African-American folktales and mythology.
What fun!
If you look closely at the cover, you’ll notice that it says “Rick Riordan Presents.” Riordan has a small imprint at Disney that he’s using to publish stories similar to his own works but about mythologies that he’s less familiar with. I understand this to mean that he’s promoting more of an #ownvoices version of modern mythology. I applaud him for using his success to promote others!
That said, the humor and adventure in Tristan Strong are sure to appeal to readers who enjoy Percy Jackson and all of Riordan’s other books. My inner 12-year-old giggled a lot.
I was surprised by the traces of darkness in these pages though. The first thing I noticed was Eddie’s death. So many kids do struggle with losing friends their age, it has to be good for them to read about characters who are also dealing with grief. This world’s monsters broke my heart but they might not be as noticeable to younger readers. Viewed through the lens of slavery, brand flies that rob you of your will, fetterlings (and the bigger bosslings) that chain you, and hullbeasts that trap branded and bound people and spread death and disease are terrifying and so much more than they appear to be on the surface. Well done, Mr. Mbalia.
I will never claim to know much about African mythology or African-American legends, but even I recognized a lot of these characters. Anansi, Brer Rabbit, John Henry, and more make larger-than-life appearances here.
Amir Abdullah’s narration was fabulous.
For humor, adventure, and an introduction to mythologies that are under-represented, I highly recommend this. It’s a fun story with a lot of heart.
Its my first name too
it was amazing and if i try to discribe all the wonderfull things it is i would fail guess it is just a got to read it to hve a opinion bookand gum baby is my fave character
This is the type of story I wish existed when I was a kid. I’ve always enjoyed fantasy stories and stories about heroes, but I haven’t always had Heroes that looked like me. Yes, of course, it’s true that I am a fan of Marvel’s Storm and Black Panther, but what’s great about Tristan Strong is that he feels more real and he doesn’t have superpowers. I like the fact that he’s a young man but this book doesn’t get caught up into some of the typical tropes of middle-grade and young adult stories where everything is just kind of whiny for no reason. Don’t get me wrong, it does have some of those moments, but they all serve a purpose at some point.
I read this story at a time in my life when I really was seeking and needing something uplifting and empowering. This book came along at just the right time. After the murder of George Floyd in the Resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, reading this book helped take away some of the pain and gave me hope. This book offered an escaped that didn’t pretend like the world was perfect or try to cover up the wrongs of the past with tales of fairies and magic, though I recognize there is a time and place for just such an escape.
The imagery and symbolism within this story is powerful. Tristan Strong gets sucked into another world where monsters are out to get the good guys and the monsters are literally the shackles worn by slaves. I won’t go into too much more detail there ‘cause I don’t want to give away spoilers, but you can see them clearly on the cover of the book. There’s so much more to it, even down to the point of what and who the villain at the end ultimately ends up being. I was shocked and moved and almost to the point of tears once it all came together and I don’t even know if that was the purpose of it all. As a black person, it was emotional, and still, I believe other people of color will be moved by it, and perhaps even some woke non-POCs will feel the weight of the villain’s revelation. Whether the same emotion is felt or not, I believe all readers will understand the important transformation Tristan goes through and all the lessons he learns along the way.
What’s also great about this book is that it is funny and adventurous. It was wonderful to see old folktales being depicted as new gods and seeing old African Gods blended with these folk tales to create a world I could not have imagined as a kid. Nothing against the Greek pantheon of gods, but we’ve all seen them so many times, that this was a truly refreshing mythological world to dive into. I can’t wait for the next book to come out so that I can find out more about these characters and see what they get into. I really must have more Gum Baby in my life.
I hope this book is one day taught in schools, sooner rather than later.
I feel like there’s so much more I want to say about how amazing this book is, as far as breaking down the characters and breaking down the plot and symbolism and the humor but it’s just all very emotional right now. Maybe a year from now I can revisit this review and add more to it, but for now, just know that this has been the best book that I’ve read all year (maybe a few years), which I wasn’t expecting since I just read a book last month which had been the best thing I’d read all year.
Highly recommended!