Life's hard.

It's even harder when you're stupid.

John Wayne

Friday, April 19, 2013

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson ★★★★☆




A story that stays with you.
Fiction – Juvenile - Classics
Age range: 9 - 11 Years
143 pages
Publication Date:  1977
Literary awards: Newbery Medal (1978), Zilveren Griffel (1983)


Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer to become the fastest runner in school, but when the new girl, Leslie, races and wins all of his dreams of triumph are dashed.  Jess wants to ignore her, but Leslie won’t be ignored and from there they become friends, each making life more bearable for the other.  Leslie's arrival challenges everything Jess has always taken for granted in his claustrophobic world.  She opens him up to new ways of thinking and being and together they create a magical kingdom called Terabithia.  A place where they are free to imagine.

Bridge to TerabithiaI first read this book when I was about ten-years-old and just cried buckets.  It was the first book I read as a child dealing with a child’s death.  I remember feeling such a kinship with Jess and desperately wishing I had a friend like Leslie and my heart just breaking at the end.  This is one of the books that has always just stuck with me over the years.  Reading Bridge to Terabithia as an adult I wasn’t quite as pulled into the story and definitely more inclined toward critical thinking as I read it instead of just enjoying the story, but I also understood the family dynamics and world Jess lived in a lot better.  The difference in prospective, however, didn’t lessen the emotional impact of this story on me, even though at times I did detect less than perfect writing.  It is a beautiful story about the best kind of friendship you can have and a book I have every intention of adding to my personal library to share with my girls.

ISBN  0439366771 (ISBN13: 9780439366779)

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