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Bridge to Terabithia (Paperback) (Paperback)
by Katherine Paterson
| Category:
Friendship, Fiction, Award-winning books, Ages 4-8, Children's book |
| Market price: ¥ 98.00
MSL price:
¥ 88.00
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 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Tragic story, 1978 Newbery Medal-winner, will make you cry. |
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Author: Katherine Paterson
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Pub. in: June, 1987
ISBN: 0061227285
Pages: 144
Measurements: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BC00116
Other information: ISBN-13：9780061227288
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- Awards & Credential -
The winner of 1978 Newbery Medal |
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- MSL Picks -
Bridge to Terabithia is the beloved classic by Katherine Patterson. This heartwarming adventure has touched the hearts of millions with its characters, settings, and the plot itself. The story is partially based on true life happenings.
Around the time of 1976, Katherine was trying to think of a good story to write a book about. She had an 8 year old son named David. Later in the year, Davids friend was then later struck by lightning and killed. This book was honored to David's friend. A year after the accident, Bridge to Terabithia was published, and was instantly a wonderful classic! Winning the Newberry Honor, this book was soon read by millions of readers who loved the story.
The story Katherine made created two characters, a boy named Jess Aarons, and a girl named Leslie Burk who are in 5th grade in a rural Virginian Town. At first they don't seem to like each other, but then they soften toward each other and become friends. Each of them creates some part of the forest as the magical made up land of Terabithia. Like Neverland from PeterPan, only this land wasn't in the sky.
Together, both children use the colorful imaginations they were given to create a place to have fun. A place to always do what you please, never get yelled at, a place to never be told to "Go away". No, Terabithia welcomes all who truely believe in it's magic and understanding characters. They create the bridge or "rope" to this land that allows all welcome.
But, in Terabithia not all falls of things are fake. One day, Jess goes away with his teacher to the Smithsonian. It's raining hard, but that doesn't stop Leslie. Leslie grabs the rope to Terabithia, pushes off, and...
Katherine Paterson's novel, simply but effectively written, provides an opportunity to consider and discuss issues such as the nature of friendship, the meaning of death, and the importance of acceptance.
Target readers:
Kids aged up 4
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- Better with -
Better with
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy (National Book Award for Young People's Literature (Awards))
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Katherine Paterson's many prize-winning books for children include two Newbery Medal winners, Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved. She has twice received the National Book Award for Children's Literature.
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A secret world of their own
Jess Aaron's greatest ambition is to be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. He's been practicing all summer and can't wait to see his classmates' faces when he beats them all. But on the first day of school, a new kid, a new girl, boldly crosses over to the boy's side of the playground and outruns everyone.
That's not a very promising beginning for a friendship, but Jess and Leslie Burke become inseparable. It doesn't matter to Jess that leslie dresses funny, or that her family has a lot of money - but no TV. Leslie has imagination. Together, she and Jess create Terabithia, a magical kingdom in the woods where the two of them reign as king and queen, and their imaginations set the only limits. Then one morning a terrible tragedy occurs. Only when Jess is able to come to grips with this tragedy does he finally understand the strength and courage Leslie has given him.
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Chapter One
Jesse Oliver Aarons, Yr.
Ba-room, ba-room, ba-room, baripity, baripity, baripity, baripity-Good. His dad had the pickup going. He could get up now. Jess slid out of bed and into his overalls.
He didn't worry about a shirt because once he began running he would be hot as popping grease even if the morning air was chill, or shoes because the, bottoms of his feet were by now as tough as his worn-out sneakers.
ere you going, Jess?" May Belle lifted herself up sleepily from the double bed where she and Joyce Ann slept.
"Sh." He warned. The walls were thin. Momma would be mad as flies in a fruit jar if they woke her up this time of day.
He patted May Belle's hair and yanked the twisted sheet up to her small chin. "Just over the cow field," he whispered. May Belle smiled and snuggled down under the- sheet.
"Gonna run?"
"Maybe."
Of course he was going to run. He had. gotten up early every day all summer to run. He figured if he worked at itand Lord, had he worked-he could be- the fastest runner in the fifth grade when school opened up. He had to be the fastest-not one of the fastest or next to the fastest, but the fastest. The very best.
He tiptoed out of the house. The place was so rattly that it screeched whenever you put your foot down, but Jess had found that if you tiptoed, it gave only a low moan, and he could usually get outdoors without waking Momma or Ellie or Brenda or Joyce Ann. May Belle was another matter. She was going on seven, and she worshiped him, which was OK sometimes. When you were the only boy smashed between four sisters, and the older two had despised you ever since you stopped letting them dress you up and wheel you around in their rusty old doll carriage, and the littlest one. Cried if you looked at their cross-eyed, it was nice to have somebody who worshiped you. Even if it got unhandy sometimes.
He began to trot across the yard. His breath, was coming out in little puffs-cold for August. But it was early yet. By noontime when his mom would have him out working, it would be hot enough.
Miss Bessie stared at him sleepily as he climbed across the scrap heap, over the fence, and into the cow field. "Moo-oo," she said, looking for all the world like another May Belle with her big, brown droopy eyes.
"Hey, Miss Bessie," Jess said soothingly. "Just go on back to sleep."
Miss Bessie strolled over to a greenish patch-most of the field was brown and dry-and yanked up a mouthful.
"That's a girl. Just eat your breakfast. Don't pay me no mind."
He always started at the northwest comer of the field, crouched over like the runners he had seen on Wide World of Sports.
"Bang," he said, and took off flying around the cow field. Miss Bessie strolled toward the center, still following him with her droopy eyes, chewing slowly. She didn't look very smart, even for a cow, but she was plenty bright enough to get out of Jess's way.
His straw-colored hair flapped hard against his forehead, and his arms and legs flew out every which way. He had never learned to run properly, but he was long-legged for a ten year-old, and no one had more grit than he.
Lark Creek Elementary was short on everything, especially athletic equipment, so all the balls went to the upper grades at recess time after lunch. Even if a fifth grader started out the period with a ball, it was sure to be in the hands of a sixth or seventh grader before the hour was half over. The older boys always took the dry center of the upper field for
Their ball games, while the girls claimed the small top section for hopscotch and jump rope and hanging around talking. So the lower-grade boys had started this running thing. They would all line up on the far side of the lower field, where it was either muddy or deep crusty ruts. Earle Watson who was no good at running, but had, a big mouth, would yell "Bang!" and they'd race to a line they'd- toed across at the other end.
One time last year Jesse had won. Not just I the first heat but the whole shebang. Only once, but it had put into his mouth a. taste for winning. Ever since he'd been in first grade he'd been that "crazy little kid that draws all the time." But one day-April the twenty-second, a drizzly Monday, it had been-he ran ahead of them all, the red mud slouching up through the holes in the bottom of his sneakers.
For the rest of that day, and until after lunch on the next, he had been "the fastest kid in- the third, fourth, and fifth grades," and he only a fourth grader. On Tuesday, Wayne Pettis had won again as usual.. But this year Wayne Pettis would be in the sixth grade. He'd play football until Christmas and baseball until June with the rest of the big guys. Anybody had a chance to be the fastest runner and by, Miss Bessie, this year it was going to be Jesse Oliver Aarons, Jr.
Jess pumped his arms harder and bent his head for the distant fence. He could hear the third-grade boys screaming him on. They would follow him around like a country-music star. And May Belle would pop her buttons. Her brother was the fastest, the best. That ought to give the rest of the first grade de something to chew their cuds on.
Even his dad would be proud. Jess rounded the corner. He couldn't keep going quite so fast, but he continued running for a while-it would, build him up.
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Orrin C. Judd (MSL quote), Hanover, NH USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
Leslie was more than his friend; she was his other, more exciting, self, his way to Terabithia and all the worlds beyond. -Bridge to Terabithia
Okay, before I make this unmanly confession, let me first state in my own defense that I have two small children and I was listening to the conclusion of this book at a very early hour, before I'd even had breakfast to fortify me for the day. That said, I'll now acknowledge that I very nearly started sobbing...
In 1976, Katherine Paterson's son David was 8 years old when his friend, Lisa Hill, was struck by lightning and killed. A year later Bridge to Terabithia was published, winning a Newberry Medal and becoming, if such a thing is possible, an instant classic. Ms Paterson drew upon this personal tragedy to create the story of a boy, Jess Aarons, and a girl, Leslie Burke, in rural Virginia, who become the best of friends. Jess is the middle child, and only son, of a reticent father, who struggles to earn a living. Leslie is the daughter, and only child, of two successful writers who have moved to the country, next door to the Aarons, for lifestyle reasons.
The friendship between the two kids is hesitant at first, particularly after Leslie usurps Jess's title as the fastest runner in their 5th grade class at Lark Creek Elementary. But both have some trouble fitting in with theirs peers, Jess because of his interest in Art, Leslie because of her scholastic ability and her parents' very 70s social attitudes (like not having a TV), and this shared awkwardness gives them a unique bond. Leslie creates an imaginary kingdom called Terabithia for them to rule over, accessible only be a rope swing over a local creek. The imaginary adventures they share there and a series of incidents at school bring the two closer and closer together. But then an ugly reality intrudes upon their idyllic world and the various characters are forced to deal with a tragic death. To say more might ruin the story, so let's leave it at that.
I understand that the use of this book in classrooms is frequently challenged by parents. If the reason for this is that they feel that the central crisis of the book may be too intense for children, I can sympathize with their feeling. But it seems like an intensity that is well worth their children's while. Ms Paterson handles the situation quite beautifully and affords a real opportunity for parents to discuss the matter of death with their kids, a topic which most families hopefully haven't much had to cope with. Reading the book is a difficult emotional experience, but better to first confront these emotions in a controlled fictional setting and begin to learn how to deal with them, than to remain totally sheltered and have to deal with them, completely unprepared, when the tragedy is real.
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
CHARACTERS: Jesse Oliver Aarons, Jr., a ten-year-old boy, middle child in a family of four sisters, whose parents are desperately poor; and Leslie Burke, new girl from the city whose arrival forever changes Jesse's life and the attitudes of the students at Lark Creek Elementary School.
SUMMARY: Young Jesse, who lives in poverty in the countryside in Virgnia, has big plans for the first week of school: he's run hard all summer and is sure he's now the fastest boy in fifth grade. Despite the fact that his dream is shattered by the arrival of a lean, lanky girl named Leslie Burke who moves to his school district from Arlington, Jesse and the newcomer become best friends. She never gloats over the fact that SHE is the fastest kid in the class, and the fact that the two are outcasts at school draws them into friendship.
Together the two find, name, and create a magical kingdom in the woods that they reach by swinging across a creek on a rope tied to a tree limb. Jesse and Leslie keep Terabithia their secret, telling neither family nor schoolmates about the hours of make-believe fun they spend there. They name themselves king and queen of Terabithia and play elaborate games almost every day.
Leslie's parents are attractive, educated professional writers who left their busy lives in the city for the simplicity and quiet of the country. The Burkes begin fixing up an old house close to Jesse's, and Jesse proves himself quite handy with carpentry and electrical repairs. When the weather is unfit for playing in the woods, Jesse and Leslie help Mr. Burke at home.
Jesse has a crush on the beautiful music teacher who was new to the school district the previous year. Fearing ridicule from his family (particularly his father) and classmates, Jesse has shown his artwork only to Miss Edmunds. One rainy day she invites Jesse to accompany her to Washington DC to see the National Gallery. Jesse is awed by the fabulous works of art, and regrets only that he didn't think to ask his teacher if Leslie could come with them.
When he returns from Washington, Jesse learns at a tender age how irrevocably one's life can change in the course of one short day.
IMPRESSIONS: This was required reading for a children's literature course that I took; otherwise, I probably wouldn't have chosen it on my own, judging solely by the title. However, Bridge to Terabithia is an excellent book. It's a quick read, but one that will leave you crying for hours-which is exactly what you want from a book sometimes! |
Edward Isogai (MSL quote), Detroit, MI USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
Bridge to Terabithia, a phenomenal work by Katherine Paterson, is a book that will be held in ages to come. This book contains friendship, love, reality, and inspiration.
As soon as I got this book, I began to read it. I was so into it that I read it for 4 hours straight and finished it. I had tears on the end, but it certainly was worth the time and money.
Jesse Aarons' greatest ambition is to be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. He's been practicing all summer and can't wait to see his classmates' faces when he beats them all. But on the first day of school, a new girl (Leslie Burke) boldly crosses over to the boys' side of the playground and outruns everyone.
That's not a very promising beginning for a friendship, but Jess and Leslie become inseparable. Leslie has imagination. Together, she and Jess create Terabithia, a magical kingdom in the woods where the two of them reign as king and queen, and their imaginations set the only limits. Then one morning a terrible tragedy occurs. Only when Jess is able to come to grips with this tragedy does he finally understand the strength and courage Leslie has given him. (From back of the book)
"Eloquent and assured."
-KIRKUS REVIEWS
"The story is one of remarkable richness and depth, beautifully written."
-THE HORN BOOK
"A splendid story between a boy and a girl, having a secret world of their own. 2 thumbs up and definitely is worth 5+ stars."
- Edward Isogai "Toopie"
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
Do you believe in destiny? I do after reading Bridge to Terabithia. It was a delighting experience put together by author Katherine Paterson and illustrator Donna Diamond. This team won a Newbery Medal and also got on to the ALA Booklist. Since 1977, when Bridge to Terabithia was published, Katherine has also published other outstanding books like Great Gilly Hopkins, Jacob I have loved, Jib his story, and other great books. This incredible fiction story showed me what being a friend is all about.
Jess Aarons is training to become the fastest kid in school. He almost achieved his goal until the Burkes move in. Leslie Burke beat all the boys in the school on the first day of school. But Jess soon overcomes jealousy and Leslie and Jess become friends. They needed somewhere secret to hang out at, so the two look in the woods only to discover the perfect place to build there stronghold, Terabithia. But when it rains the path becomes flooded and it just became more copulated to get to. But Jess and Leslie are just determined to find a way in.
One of the many things the author did well was explain the setting. You know where and when the book is taking place. A very descriptive part is when Jess and Leslie first find there kingdom of Terabithia. The setting just pops out at you. I also liked the pine forest home of the spirits. I could feel the emptiness. This book came to life before my eyes!
The characters in this book seemed so realistic. I felt like I knew the characters. They were right in front of me. I could relate to some of the characters. I thought of Jess, a kind soul. Leslie is always there to cheer someone up. May Belle felt like someone you try to get away from? I felt like I was in this book.
In this book I learned that a little bit of friendship goes a long way. The book takes a dip into friendship. The title of the book is one of my favorites. But there is a twist at the end. The ending will come unexpected. I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes a well written book. You will want to keep reading even after the book is finished.
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