9. Bridge to Terabithia

Title: Bridge to Terabithia
Author: Katherine Paterson
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Illustrator: Donna Diamond
Copyright Date: 1977
Number of Pages: 128
Reading Level: 10+
Genre: Realistic Fiction

Summary
At the beginning of fifth grade Jess Aarons’ greatest goal is to be the fastest kid in his class. All that changes when Leslie Burke moves into the old Perkins place down the road. Leslie beats all of the boys in the fifth grade and soon Jesse becomes friends with her. They create their own little world called Teribithia to escape school and family life. Teribithia is on Leslie’s property and is reached by swinging across a creek. Together they accomplish all that they set out to do. One gives strength to the other and vis-versa. In one adventure in order to get back at the school bully for stealing his little sister’s Twinkies Leslie and Jesse create a ruse that a popular boy in school likes her. Later on they feel bad for what they did and Leslie manages to become friends with her. In the end There are a lot of rain storms and each time Jesse and Leslie go into Teribithia the creek gets higher and higher. One day Jesse’s teacher calls and asks him to go to the Smithsonian in DC with her. He goes and when he comes back he finds out that Leslie died trying to cross into Teribithia. Jesse’s dad comes to the rescue and tries to form a bond with his son again. Jesse is able to grow closer to his younger sister May Belle.

Recommendation
I would recommend this book mainly for boys who don’t feel they fit in socially. For the sole purpose of showing that being artistic and friends with a girl are not weaknesses.

Problems/Conflict
This book swears quite often and could be a problem for parents of young readers. I actually remember using “Lord” incorrectly for a long time after reading this book.

My Reaction
I love this book (I say that a lot). The characters are so well developed especially for such a short book there is a tremendous amount of growth in Jesse and Leslie. This book makes me cry each time, but this time it was because of the relationship between Jesse and his dad. At the end when Jesse runs out of the house refusing to believe that Leslie is dead his dad comes after him and takes Jesse in his arms. There was a significant lack of relationship between father and son during the whole book until the end when tragedy brings them together.