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Winner of a Coretta Scott King Author Honor
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 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? |
Activity 1:
I don't know about you, but I always like the option of adding food to any event!! With this in mind, plan a menu of a dinner based on this book. Tell me why you chose the particular food based on evidence from the book. You can use your favorite restaurant if you want to, but you can't get everything from one place! You can use ethnic food that you might want to try, or some of your mom's best dishes. Make sure that you explain why you chose each of your at least three dishes to add to the menu. Be creative!
Activity 2:
Write a poem, song, or rap about one of the characters from the novel. Perform your creation for us, record it, and share it with me @ jjack@esu11.org. If you have a friend who has also read this book, it would be a great activity to share with each other so you can both count it in your activity list.
Activity 3:
The book is always better, but this book would make a great movie!! Choose a cast of actors to make this into a movie. Who would play Tristan? What about the rest of the characters? Choose 5 characters from the book and then tell me who will play them in the movie.
I don't know about you, but I always like the option of adding food to any event!! With this in mind, plan a menu of a dinner based on this book. Tell me why you chose the particular food based on evidence from the book. You can use your favorite restaurant if you want to, but you can't get everything from one place! You can use ethnic food that you might want to try, or some of your mom's best dishes. Make sure that you explain why you chose each of your at least three dishes to add to the menu. Be creative!
Activity 2:
Write a poem, song, or rap about one of the characters from the novel. Perform your creation for us, record it, and share it with me @ jjack@esu11.org. If you have a friend who has also read this book, it would be a great activity to share with each other so you can both count it in your activity list.
Activity 3:
The book is always better, but this book would make a great movie!! Choose a cast of actors to make this into a movie. Who would play Tristan? What about the rest of the characters? Choose 5 characters from the book and then tell me who will play them in the movie.