Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge to Terabithia | Realistic Fiction | Katherine Paterson | Newbery Medal; ALA Notable Children’s Books | ages 10-13 |

Jess and Leslie are two best friends who share a magical imagination together. A pure friendship that glows with joy. They met at school when Leslie came in as the new girl. Jess has always had trouble fitting in but when Leslie comes along, he finally has a whole friend to himself. The two play together in school and outside of school. They create a magical land named Terabithia which you get there by crossing the river on a rope. There, you see so many creatures and take on quests. This is their magic land. For Jess and Leslie only. One Saturday, Jess receives a call which is not common. It’s his teacher asking if he would like to go on a trip to Washington with him. Jess loves his teacher and appreciates her and her class so much. How could he say no? He goes with his teacher and on the way thinks he should ask Leslie to join. However, this moment is too good to share for Jess and he decides to go alone with his teacher. When he comes back, he finds his family shocked with scared faces. Jess doesn’t understand what’s going on. It isn’t until they say, his friend, Leslie, passed away. Jess doesn’t believe it. The words run through his mind shocking him. It’s all too much for him and falls asleep. The next morning Jess feels confused. He believes it’s a bad dream and goes throughout the morning like any other morning. Then, again, he is reminded of the reality that’s happened. Later his parents and Jess go to pay their respects. Soon Leslie’s parents begin moving out and Jess gets an idea. With the remaining lumber from Leslie’s house that her father agreed he could use, he will make something for Marybelle, his younger sister to make up for hurting her. Terabithia will have a new queen. 

This book is nice read for kids. You are exposed to a friendship between two kids experiencing bullies, siblings, and play/imagination. I do recommend this book for older kids but I would refrain from using it or assigning it in the classroom. I’ve seen reviews and the parents seem very upset about it. Throughout the book, religion is also mentioned talking about God and the views the children have. This may be a difficult topic to discuss as a class so I would rather not get into it at all. The appropriate grade level in my opinion are fifth grade to eight grade. If you do decide to use this book, I think some activities that go well are recreating the book with the main parts of the story using StoryBoard That. You can also have your students pick a character to study including their character development, emotions, background, and if they relate to that character and why. It would also be fun to have them as a group or in partners, create their own magical land with their own rules. If you do this, you can go over the importance of laws and types of government.