Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, outpaces him. The two become fast friends and spend most days in the woods behind Leslie's house, where they invent an enchanted land called Terabithia. One morning, Leslie goes to Terabithia without Jess and a tragedy occurs. It will take the love of his family and the strength that Leslie has given him for Jess to be able to deal with his grief. Bridge to Terabithia was also named an ALA Notable Children’s Book and has become a touchstone of children’s literature, as have many of Katherine Paterson’s other novels, including The Great Gilly Hopkins and Jacob Have I Loved.
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Jess Aarons is starting his 5th grade year training to become the fastest runner in his school. Running and sketching are Jess's outlets in a life where his parents seem hyper critical of his every move. Jess's parents come off as pretty moody for much of the novel, but it could be argued that a lot of that could stem from them struggling to make ends meet on the family farm. Whatever the reason, it makes for a consistently uncomfortable home life.
Leslie Burke's family moves into the farmhouse next to the Aaron's farm but the two don't really get to know each other until the day Jess agrees to race Leslie in a timed track event. Jess can't deny that he's impressed with Leslie's skills, and from that day on a close bond steadily develops between them. Leslie's parents are successful writers -- her mother a novelist, her father a political writer. But Leslie explains that the choice to move the farmhouse was the result of them "reassessing their value structure." The Burkes were stepping away from their privileged lifestyle to try their hand at homesteading. One wouldn't think it would necessarily be a bad thing... a family learning to live more in alignment with the natural world... until the day Leslie has to admit in front of the class that her home does not have a tv, so she wouldn't be able to watch a program for a homework assignment as the teacher had requested of everyone. From then on, Leslie is on the radar of bully Janice and Jess feels compelled to step up and guard his new friend the best he can, introverted though he may be.
Leslie is a tomboy with a passion for books, a love of reading that soon begins to rub off on Jess. During one of their excursions to the nearby woods, Leslie shares her wish for a land they could escape to when they wanted to get away from life's cruel moments. The kids come across a spot near a creek that Leslie decides to name Terabithia. To the outside observer, it might look like just a crudely constructed child's fort next to a creek out in the woods, but for them it was that metaphorical life preserver.
It was up to him to pay back to the world in beauty and caring what Leslie had loaned him in vision and strength.
Leslie immediately has Jess read the entire Chronicles of Narnia series so they can get an idea of how to structure their own kingdom. She is the one who crafts all the legends and ceremonies of Terabithia, and Jess is in awe of her limitless imagination.
With certain scenes, Bridge to Terabithia painfully illustrates how cruel school years can sometimes be, not only for those bullied but also within the secret lives of the bullies themselves. Case in point: Leslie finds bully Janice crying in the bathroom one day. Once Leslie gets her calm enough to start talking, Janice explains that she confided in two close friends, revealing that her father frequently and severely beat her. Instead of comforting or otherwise helping her, the "friends" decided to spread gossip around the school, sharing Janice's secret with anyone who cared to hear. Even teachers began to look at Janice differently.
That was the rule that you never mixed up troubles at home with life at school. When parents were poor or ignorant or mean, or even just didn't believe in having a TV set, it was up to their kids to protect them. By tomorrow every kid and teacher at Lark Creek Elementary would be talking in half snickers about Janice Avery's daddy. It didn't matter if their own fathers were in the state hospital or the federal prison, they hadn't betrayed theirs, and Janice had.
I watched the movie adaptation of this several years ago. I don't remember a ton about it now but recalled enough to keep me interested in trying the book one day. So here we are, and while there's certainly a good story here, I'm in the camp of "why is this hyped up so much?" I mean, it even won a Newbery Medal. I was thinking it had a slow start, but the book as a whole is not terribly long.... I found I was nearly done and still having that sensation of "it's good but I'm just a tad bored, if I'm being honest". The big tragedy this story is known for actually doesn't start to unfold until the last few chapters of the book. I was also expecting more rich detail with the conceptualization of Terabithia. For some reason I had always had the impression this book had a much stronger sci-fi / fantasy vibe than what I actually found here. For the most part it's pretty much just kids crafting make believe stories out in the woods like so many of us did growing up. I would've love a little more magical realism woven in. In this case, I think the movie did it better.
In her author afterword, Paterson reveals that this novel was inspired by her son, whose childhood best friend was struck and killed by lightning; also, the character of Janice was inspired by Paterson's own 7th grade experiences with a female bully. She also notes that some literary inspiration came from The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.
*Illustrations by Donna Diamond
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