For the Love of Books: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia. New York: HarperCollins, 1977. ISBN- 0690013590. Hardback. USD $15.89.

Awards/Honors:

-1977 ALA Notable Children's Books

-1977 School Library Journal Best Book

-1978 won the Newbery Medal

-1978 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award

-1981 Janusz Korczak Medal (Poland) 1981
-1981 Silver Pencil Award (Netherlands)
-1986 Le Grand Prix des Jeunes Lecturs (France)
-1986 Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award

Annotation:

Meeting Leslie may have been the best thing that has ever happened to Jesse. Especially when she teaches him how to live and dream and imagine.

Booktalk:

“We need a place," she said, "just for us. It would be so secret that we would never tell anyone in the whole world about it… It might be a whole secret country,’ she continued, "and you and I would be the rulers of it."

Have you ever felt like you didn’t fit in, like you were completely alone in a world filled with people? That’s exactly how ten-year-old Jesse felt. Even when he went home to a house filled with kids, he felt as if he was invisible. When Leslie, the new girl in town befriends Jesse, a friendship beyond expectations was created. Jesse is a quiet, hard-working boy, while Leslie is free-spirited, outgoing, and spunky. Leslie teaches Jesse how to open up his heart to a world of imagination and to let go of the hostility he has built up inside of him.

Across the river, deep in the woods, and up in a tree house, Jesse and Leslie create a pretend kingdom full of imaginative creatures and events. As King and Queen, Jesse and Leslie live in this creative world to get away from the reality of their everyday lives. They defeat the evil creatures of the Kingdom as well as the bullies in their school. Open up your heart and your imagination as you ride alongside Jesse, Leslie, and their magical world!

In 1985 this book was created into a TV movie and in 2007 a theatrical film was created. Take a look at the 2007 trailer: