Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson

Bridge to Terabithia  follows the story of a young boy by the name of Jesse Aarons.  Jesse becomes best of friends with a new student at his school who beats him in a footrace.  His new friend is a tomboy by the name of Leslie Burke.  The two are inseparable and are using out playing in their make believe sanctuary where they both rule as the new land's monarchs.  They call their land Terabithia where they construct a small refuge where they can escape to and leave all their day to day worries behind them.  The two are always together until one day Jesse decides to go on a field trip with his favorite teacher; whom he as a crush on.  Jesse forgets to tell his mom and Leslie about where he went.  While he was gone, Leslie tries to go to Terabithia on her own; but unfortunately, the rope swing that is used to cross over to their land snaps and causes Leslie to fall into the creek below where she drowns.  Jesse is saddened with the news and is struck by the grief that Leslie's family is displaying at their loss. Jesse at the end decides to make his sister the new princess of Terabithia and is able to build a more stable bridge using wood that was given to him by Leslie's parents. This book is the 1978 Newberry Medal Award winning book. The book has a great story but young children should be cautioned regarding the tragic incident that occurs at the end of the story.

A book trailer can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mEVhFZ2p9A

Teachers can find lesson plans to help them teach Bridge to Terabithia  at  http://files.harpercollins.com/PDF/TeachingGuides/0690046359.pdf

Readers also enjoyed The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman and  The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron.

Other books written by Katherine Paterson are The Great Gilly Hopkins  and Bread and Roses, Too.

Paterson, K., Diamond, D., & Hill, A. (1977). Bridge to Terabithia. New York, NY: T.Y. Crowell.