Bridge to Terabithia

Paterson, K. (1972). Bridge to Terabithia. NY: Crown.

Jess Aarons becomes unlikely friends with Leslie Burke, and the two build a strong friendship bond, together traversing the ups and downs of fifth grade, while still holding on to the kid like imagination when they escape to their made-up land of Terabithia.  Tragedy strikes with Leslie's  death, which leads to special bonding moments with Jess and his father and Jess and one of his younger sisters.  Although the story takes place over thirty years ago, Paterson develops the characters in such ways that young readers can still relate to them.  The theme of friendship is strong throughout the book.  The deep style of writing is one that may either seriously draw young readers in, or cause them to not finish the book.  The reality of young death is a tough subject, but Paterson does a nice job of depicting the different ways people may cope.  As with all movies and books, there a few discrepancies in the details.  The movie takes place in a more modern time than the book.  Of course, in the movie, Terabithia is animated, whereas that part is left up to the reader's imagination in the book.  Also, Leslie is clearly a girl in the movie, whereas in the book Jess can't tell what her gender is at first.  For the most part though, the movie stays pretty true to the book.