Bridge to Terabithia
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Book Review

Reviewed by Melanie Evarts

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Illustrator: Donna Diamond

Published by Thomas Y. Crowell Company, June 1987

bulletGrade level: 5th
bulletThe content of this book can be read by a fifth grade student because they can relate to the friendship within the story. This story is about a very strong friendship between a young boy and girl. They always play together and they are friends even though the girl was looked at differently in school, her friend is her friend no matter what. At the end of the story one of the children die and the author goes through the life of the one who was left without their friend and all the emotions and things that they feel. The emotions and reactions to various things in life after the loss of someone close to you as portrayed in this book are very accurate to real life. A fifth grader reading this book will relate to the strong friendship, and if they have not had to experience death in their life yet, they are learning about it, and this book will help them to learn about it. The story is very realistic, it seems that it could very well have happened in America. I would encourage any fifth grader to read this story. Slow readers would be able to read this story easily as well, it is very fast reading and no difficult words. This would be one of the kinds of stories to read aloud to a class if you had the time to devote to it daily. Reading this book would bring a lot of discussion about acceptance and friendship as well as death. These are all issues that every child needs to work through at some time in their life, and discussing it would be very helpful to the students. Throughout this book the Lord's name is used inappropriately and church is represented in a way that is not characteristic of a church. This is a must read, even for adults, and I think especially for teachers who have not experienced death close to them. It would help teachers be able to work with children who do experience losses in their classrooms.
bulletAvailable through Barnes and Noble