Book Review - Bridge to Terabithia

Katherine Paterson is the author of Bridge to Terabithia. She was born in China where she went to school and grew up as a young child. She did her education in both China and the American South, afterwards she decided to go on an adventure and explore Japan. In Japan Katherine Paterson wrote her first three books Jacob Have I Loved, Preacher’s Boy, and The Same Stuff as Stars, all of these titles have won a Newberry Honor Award. Katherine Patterson has also written other famous titles such as The Great Gilly Hopkins and The Master Puppeteer. Bridge to Terabithia was first written in 1977 and had no research required writing it, Katherine Patterson wrote this story alone and had no accomplices.

The main character of this story is a blond, very thin, energetic, blue-eyed, fifth grader called Jesse Oliver Aarons. Jesse Oliver Aarons is a young and ambitious boy, who is caring towards most of the citizens at school, and is determined to be the fastest boy in the school. I would’ve enjoyed being Jesse’s friend because he would’ve been kind and supportive in most of the things that I might have wanted to do, and because if I was down he would more than likely tried to cheer me right up.

The supporting character is a wonderful, kind, and caring girl called Leslie Burke. Leslie Burke is a well built blonde fifth grader, who is Jesse’s best friend after a rough start. I think I would’ve enjoyed being Leslie’s friend because of how great of a friend she was to Jesse Aarons.

There are two main themes that stuck out to me while was reading the story; the two themes are the power of friendship and what having a good friend can bring to your life. An example of the power of friendship is when Jesse has to face a bully at school or else, and the only reason he was able to do it was because his friendship with Leslie gave him the courage to do so. An example of what friendship can bring you is when after a terrible tragedy Jesse finally realizes what he is capable of.

Bridge to Terabithia is about a boy named Jesse who is determined to be the fastest runner, meets up with a girl called Leslie after being out run by her in a race. In the beginning he doesn’t really like her because he lost to her in the race but their shaky friendship slowly becomes more solid. After a while Jess and Leslie decide to make up a magical kingdom where together they rule as King and Queen of their new land called Terabithia. At the end of the story a terrible tragedy happens and only then does Jesse realize his full potential.

I believe that Bridge to Terabithia was written to tell us of the powers of friendship. I think that the intended audience was for everyone who doesn’t know the power of friendship. I could not relate to any of the characters in the story because I could not see myself as either Jesse or Leslie. Finally I enjoyed the book because of the adventures that Jesse and Leslie took.