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Bridge to Terabithia
I started reading BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA after my sister encouraged me to give it a try. Having worked in libraries, I had often seen the book checked out and I new that it was a Newberry winner. However, I was always turned off by the book's cover (which featured a young boy and girl next to a tree) and by the book's blurb which gave me the impression that story was a piece of chick lit geared toward young girls. My attitude towards the book first softened when I saw trailers for the BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA movie from Walden Entertainment. Those trailers didn't look anything like the blurbs and jacket covers I had read. Shortly after seeing those trailers my sister told me I should read the story and that I would probably like it. She was right.Though BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA is often marketed and read en-mass by pre-teen and teenage girls, the book actually revolves around a boy named Jess Aarons. Jess lives on a poor, small farm in rural Virginia. He is the only boy of five children. There isn't anyone nearby that is close to his age and so after completing his chores, he spends a lot of time alone tramping through the fields, running, reading books, and drawing pictures. At the end of summer a new family moves into the vacant house next door. The parents are both writers and they have one child, a daughter named Leslie who is Jess' age. Jess and Leslie quickly befriend each other and become best friends. They spend all of their time together create an imaginary kingdom in the woods, Terabithia, that they rule together. Jess brings out the best in Leslie and vice versa and though neither acknowledges it they fall in love with each other. Then one glorious day, a terrible tragedy strikes. Jess is forced to examine his life and realize just how big of an impact Leslie has had upon it.I have to admit that BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA was a much better book than I thought it would be and that it touched me. The story reminded me of one of my favorite books of all time, STARGIRL, by Jerry Spinelli. Both books deal with some of the same themes (close friendships, first love, nonconformity, etc.) and have similar characters (Stargirl is like an older version of Leslie), but STARGIRL is aimed at an older audience than BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA, though BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA is more tragic.BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA is a wonderful book and is the first work of Katherine Paterson's that I have read. I highly recommend it and look forward to reading more of Paterson's writings in the future.
Bridge to Terabithia
This story is simply yet beautifully told, and contains powerful messags about friendship, imagination, loss and recovery. Jesse Aarons, age 10, practices hard to become the fastest runner in the fifth grade. His hopes are dashed when Leslie Burke arrives in the neighborhood. Recovering from disappointment, Jesse decides that Leslie is OK, given that she never gloats. The two develop a strong friendship connected to their imaginary kingdom of Terabithia in the woods. In Terabithia Jesse and Leslie reign as king and queen, sharing stories and dreams, and finding solace from a difficult world. When Leslie tragically dies, Jesse must contend with the overwhelming loss, and in time he finds a way to do so.This superb story saddens and inspires, and is sometimes read by persons grieving the loss of loved ones. This is a popular children's story, but it connects with readers of all ages.
Bridge to Terabithia
I read this book aloud to my 10 year old. The book was chosen by his "book group" at school. Easy to read, good, smooth storyline, true life. At the end of the book, it was so sad, that I could not finish reading it aloud. Told my son he would have to read it to himself, because I was crying....
Bridge to Terabithia
I read this book in 4th grade and it was probably the first book that i read that involved the death of a main character. All the other reviews have summaries so I'm going to skip that but I will say that if your child is emotionally ready to read about death this is an excellent book for mature 4th graders and up.
Bridge to Terabithia
Have you ever read the book"The Bridge to Terabithia"? I have, and it is a really great book. This book is about a girl named Leslie that moves to a town where a little boy named Jesse lives. At first Jesse did not like Leslie because she kept bugging him, but later on he began to like her. They became best friends, and they created a club just for them to be. They called this club Terabithia. Leslie was very curagios. She wasn't afraid of anything. One day she was swinging on a vine across a river to get into Teribithia. Her luck of being curagios ran out. The vine broke and she fell in the river.Since she was all alone.No one could help her so she drown.Jess, her best friend, was devestated when he was told.In memory of her, Jesse built a bridge over the river to Terabithia so no one could slip again. I liked this book because the characters in this book remind me of real people that I know. I would reccomend this book for anyone who likes to read great stories because this sure was a great story. This book was very easy to follow. This book was unbelievealy good. I hope you find the time to read this book. I promise you will be glad you did.
Bridge to Terabithia
Katherine Paterson creates emotion which grabs the readers attention from the first page until the very last page. She takes the reader through childhood envy and laughter, from sadness and denial to acceptance. It is difficult not to feel like you, yourself are standing next to each character experiencing everything with them. I never had a book that takes me through so many emotions and to have them feel so real. The detail Ms. Paterson uses is just phenomenal! Any reader of any age would enjoy this book of childhood and friendship.