A Newbery Medal winner, Bridge to Terabithia is a children’s classic about the coming of age of Jess Aarons. Jess is the middle of five children, living in rural Virginia. He’s about to start the fifth grade when a new family moves into the house next to theirs, with a daughter the same age as Jess. The two form an unlikely friendship, and create a magical world in the nearby woods where they escape to rule as the king and queen. The friendship continues to grow until one of the worst things that could happen happens – Leslie has a horrible accident. It is at this point that Jess realizes what Leslie means to him and what she has taught him about life.

I haven’t read this since I was a child. There were certain parts I remembered about it, but a lot of it I had completely forgotten about. For example, I knew Leslie Burke dies in it, but I didn’t remember how – for some reason, I had thought it was going to be more of a My Girl type death.

I think what really stood out for me this time around was how much Jess changed from the beginning of the book. It’s a coming of age story, and there are so many ways that Jess has been changed through this book. Not just through the death of his best friend – that would be enough to make anyone his age grow up a little bit. But also in the way Leslie teaches Jess how to view the world, how she teaches him how magical it can be, and how she teaches him how we should treat others. I love it when Jess realizes what Leslie has taught him, and that he must do the same now for one of his younger sisters.

Bridge to Terabithia is number 9 on the ALA’s The 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990–2000. Wikipedia says it’s due to “death being a part of the plot, Jess’ frequent use of the word ‘lord’ outside of prayer, and concerns that the book promotes secular humanism and New Age religions, occultism, Satanism, as well as for accusations of sexual content.” First of all, book banning makes me livid. But the part that really makes me sad in this case is because the challenge is due to the death of a character. It wouldn’t be very realistic if no one ever died in a book, would it? And books are such a great way to learn through experiences that the characters are going through.

I didn’t realize that Paterson also wrote Jacob Have I Loved! I don’t even know how many times times I read that growing up. I’m going to have to hunt down a copy of that book too, just to see if I enjoy it as much now as I did then.

The Bottom Line: I can understand why this is a children’s classic. It’s wonderfully written and feels very real. Definitely keeping this on my shelves to reread from time-to-time.