Synopsis:"All summer, Jess pushed himself to be the fastest boy in the fifth grade, and when the year's first school-yard race was run, he was going to win. But his victory was stolen by a newcomer, by a girl, one who didn't even know enough to stay on the girls' side of the playground. Then, unexpectedly, Jess finds himself sticking up for Leslie, for the girl who breaks rules and wins races.
The friendship between the two grows as Jess guides the city girl through the pitfalls of life in their small, rural town, and Leslie draws him into the world of imaginations and a whole new world called Terabithia. There they rules as king and queen, until a terrible tragedy occurs that helps Jess understand just how much he has learned from Leslie"
Considering that the film adaption of this book is my all time favourite film, I'm quite ashamed that it has taken me this long to get round to reading the novel. Nevertheless I got through this book within a couple of hours spread over two nights.
I didn't think that it would be possible but Katerine Paterson has made me fall uncontrollably and irrevocably in love with Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke all over again. The character development and relationship between the two is so real and current that as a reader I felt as if I too was living the adventures Jess and Leslie faced on a daily basis; Paterson's writing takes you on an extraordinary adventure between three best friends.
Both Jess and Leslie were from opposite ends of the spectrum. Jess' family is poor and barely scrapes by every month yet they soldier on and stick together as a family, whereas Leslie is originally from a comfortable background in Washington and at first finds it difficult to fit into her new life in rural southwest Virginia, yet they unexpectedly become friends and momentarily change each other's lives, and that is expressed so beautifully in Paterson's writing, the treatment of the two characters and the illustrations provided.
Reading of Jess and Leslie's friendship pulled me back to my childhood and the games and worlds I'd too create with my best friend. It give me a great sense of nostalgia and longing to have my childhood back and live it all over again. Paterson successfully manages to portray adults themes such as abuse and hardship in a way that is both effective and suitable for a children's book as well as enlighten the beauty of a child's imagination and it's never ending possibilities.
Furthermore, the transition of Jess' character from just an ordinary lonely boy to an imaginative, cheerful and heartfelt preteen and how his friendship with Leslie got him there is fantastic to read and my heart broke when tragedy struck and changed everything.
From the end of chapter 10 onward my tears repeatedly fell onto the pages of this book and with the turning of each page my heart broke even more as Jess struggles to face and accept the tragedy he has experienced and how it changes everything for him from how he perceives the world all the way up to the living on of the world himself and Leslie created together, Terabithia.
Although I was disappointed by the lack of detail in regards to Terabithia itself and the adventures the two inevitably had within, I found this book an enchanting read and a touching tale of preteen companionship and loss that has most definitely become one of my favourite books.
I give Katherine Paterson and 'Bridge to Terabithia' ★★★★★
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