It might be a whole secret country and you and I would be the rulers of it.īridge to Terabithia is a story of the unexpected friendship that springs up between Jess Aarons and his new neighbor Leslie Burke, who moves into town just as fifth grade at Lark Creek Elementary is about to begin. It would be so secret that we would never tell anyone in the whole world about it. She was his other, more exciting self – his way to Terabithia and all the worlds beyond.Īnd haven’t we all wished for a special place, a refuge from the ordinary world of which we could say : After all, haven’t we all longed, at one time or another, to find a kindred soul of whom we could say:įor the first time in his life he got up every morning with something to look forward to. We talked about the experience for days and days afterwards, and I came to understand the power of Terabithia. Since I read it along with my daughter who was in fifth grade at the time, I could see that she had the very same response. … what an amazing experience! As the funny lady in the long ago sitcom said: I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me. I could trace the tracks of that love in every page: I could tell that children had carried this book to the kitchen table and read as they munched on their school snack, or their morning cereal, I could see phrases underlined and sticky notes here and there with the tell tale signs of a reader’s response to a text – ! or ? or Woah! This book radiated reader’s love. The book looked beaten up, with dog eared pages, and the cover was faded and ripped…but a glance at the pages told me all I needed to know – this was a well loved book. I first read Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia when I was stuck at the orthodontist’s office without a book of my own, and Terabithia beckoned to me from my daughter’s backpack. Be warned that this post contains spoilers and was written with others who have already read this book in mind. (Note: I know that many of you share these posts with your children and students.

Terabithia book