Tristan Strong's Hero Journey
You can find this storyboard in the following articles and resources:
Epic Hero: Definition and Activities
Lesson Plans by Rebecca Ray
Protagonists come in many varieties. An archetypal protagonist is the "Epic Hero", a character with impressive qualities who completes awe-inspiring deeds. This lesson helps students identify and understand the epic hero in literature.
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
By Lauren Ayube
Tristan Strong is a seventh grader who lost his best friend Eddie in a tragic bus accident they were in together. Consumed by guilt and grief, Tristan holds tight to the one piece of Eddie that he has left: his journal. Their journal. When Tristan arrives in Alabama to spend a month with his grandparents, a creature shows up in the middle of the night and steals Eddie’s journal. Tristan has no idea what adventures await him as he sets off to find the journal, and himself.
'
Storyboard Description
Have students illustrate the Hero's Journey of Tristan Strong!
Storyboard Text
- ORDINARY WORLD
- CALL TO ADVENTURE
- REFUSAL
- MENTOR / HELPER
- After the accidental death of his best friend Eddie, Tristan goes to live with his grandparents on their farm in Alabama for a month.
- CROSSING THE THRESHOLD
- Gum Baby sneaks in Tristan’s bedroom window and steals the journal that Eddie and Tristan used to write stories in.
- TESTS / ALLIES / ENEMIES
- At first, Tristan is reluctant to follow Gum Baby, and wonders if this is all a dream.
- APPROACH
- Gum Baby is with Tristan throughout his entire journey. John Henry motivates Tristan and is a positive mentor throughout the story. Others, such as Chestnutt, Ayanna, and High John, are also part of Tristan’s journey.
- ORDEAL
- After chasing Gum Baby, Tristan ends up in the Bottle Tree Forest where he finds Gum Baby and the backpack with the journal. Tristan is angry and punches a bottle on the tree. A fiery hole appears at the bottom of the tree, and they are transported down the hole into the Burning Sea.
- Tristan is faced with many tests during his adventure. He must survive the Burning Sea, fight the Fetterlings, retrieve the Story Box, find Eddie’s journal, defeat the Maafa and Uncle C, outsmart Anansi, and of course, fix the hole in the sky.
- Tristan goes to Nyame’s Palace to ask the sky god to fix the Story Box. When they are on the roof, Nyame tells Tristan a story about the history of Alke. Just then, they see a massive ship enter the marina; the ship is filled with iron monsters and Tristan knows it’s Maafa and that he must fight.
- Two boxing gloves appear and Tristan uses them to fight off the enemies. Tristan then finds Uncle C, whose full name is Uncle Cotton. With Gum Baby’s help, Tristan defeats him, and he and Gum Baby search for a way out and a way to find the journal.
- REWARD
- ROAD BACK
- ATONEMENT
- RETURN
- Tristan and Gum Baby end up in a bus, where Eddie tells Tristan what’s been going on: Uncle C is using the journal to track Tristan, and Tristan must now help Maafa’s prisoners off of the ship. Anansi has been disguised as Brer Rabbit the whole time, and as a punishment, he must go inside the Story Box and help Tristan write his stories. The journal and the Story Box are safe.
- After Tristan says goodbye, he heads to where High John is building a bridge to connect MidPass with the mainland of Alke. There, he connects John Henry and High John by telling them about Anansi’s punishment.
- Tristan returns home with the Story Box, which is in the form of a smartphone, and Anansi, who is inside of the Story Box. Anansi fixes the hole in the sky with his web.
- Back to his grandparent’s farm, Tristan begins to tell his story. He feels as though his work is not yet done, and knows that he will return to Alke one day.
Over 30 Million Storyboards Created