Title: Bridge to Terabithia
Author: Katherine Paterson
Format: eBook
Rating: ★★★☆☆
After reading Among Others, I felt like I needed to reread Bridge to Terabithia. I hadn't read it since I was a kid, and I'm kind of saddened to find that it isn't quite the story in my head. Either way, I'm glad I reread it. Spoilers in review.
Bridge to Terabithia is a middle grade novel that I remember being a lot more fantasy, and a lot less realistic fiction. I guess to the right mind, especially the right young mind, it still is, very much, fantasy. I built my own Terabithia in my head, and that's what lasted with me more than the actual book.
The protagonist meets a girl, Leslie, who moves in next door who changes his life. She's a city girl whose parents are trying out the country, and she's everything he isn't. And yet, they are exactly what the other needs.
Out in the woods, they build their own kingdom, Terabithia, out of the magic of Leslie's imagination. Unfortunately, all too soon, Leslie dies in an accident, and the protagonist has to learn early on how to handle grief.
From what I remember reading as a kid, this was a common theme in middle grade fiction. A Taste of Blackberries comes to mind when I think of it, another realistic fiction book where a friend (spoiler alert) of the protagonist suffers a sudden death.
Unfortunately, I think a lot of the magic of Bridge to Terabithia has been lost for me. I think that, like the protag, I've rebuilt my castle in other ways. That being said, it will always carry a special place in my heart. After all, it taught me how far my imagination can take me.
Has anyone seen the movie? I know I've heard good things about it, but wasn't really watching movies when it came out. I've been told the author's son wrote it, and that it's very true to the story.
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