Tristan discovers he is an Anansesem, a storyteller gifted with Anansi the Spider’s power to bring stories to life, and the legendary John Henry gives him a magical set of boxing gloves and an adinkra, a charm, in the shape of a spider. Both Brer Fox and the journal disappear.Īt the Thicket, Tristan learns that his actions have sparked a wave of kidnappings by the fetterlings, creatures created by the Maafa, a large monster who is under the control of Uncle Cotton (a fact Tristan keeps from the gods of MidPass). His journal transforms into a paper giant shaped like Eddie when the fetterlings overcome Tristan, but these powers are not enough. Tristan tries to save Brer Fox by punching, the only thing he knows how to do. On the way to the Thicket, animated chains called fetterlings capture Brer Fox, one of Ayanna’s allies.
Tristan is shocked when he realizes his fellow passengers are creatures straight out of Black folktales. Tristan and Gum Baby land in the Burning Sea, located between the lands of MidPass and mainland Alke, but they escape its fiery water and ships made of bones with the help of air-raft pilot Ayanna, who attempts to take Tristan, Gum Baby, and passengers, to safety in a place called the Thicket. During a tussle over the journal, Tristan punches a hole in the sky, thereby damaging the integrity of this fantasy world and releasing a haint-Uncle Cotton, a loathsome holdover of American slavery-in this mythical world. Soon after Tristan’s arrival at the Strong farm, Gum Baby, an impudent little thief from the land of Alke, attempts to steal a strange journal that glows and is the only memento of Eddie that Tristan has. Tristan has long been fascinated by the folktales Nana told him and he collected them with Eddie as a part of a school project.
His trip is his parents’ latest effort to help him emerge from the depression he feels after Eddie, his best friend, dies in an accident during a school trip with Tristan and his classmates. Tristan Strong travels from Chicago to the family farm in Alabama with his grandparents Alvin and Nana Strong.
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