By: Katherine Paterson
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers; 1977
Reading Level: ~ 9-12 yrs
Number of Pages: 128
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Summary: Jess is a fifth grader who lives with his mother, father, two older sisters and two younger sisters. Jess likes to run and he practiced running all summer so that he could be the fasted kid in the fifth grade when school started. Jess also does a lot of the chores around the house becasue he is the only boy. A little family moves into "The old Perkin's Place" down the road from where Jess and his family live. The girl/boy (Jess is unsure) tries to talk to Jess one morning while he is running, but Jess doesn't really care about him/her. So at school this girl (Jess later discovers) Leslie is in his class. She wants to run with all the boys but they don't want her to. Jess lets her run and she beats EVERYONE in the race. So through many experiences with bullies, helping Leslie and her parents fix up the old house, and many others, Jess and Leslie become best friends. They create this world called Terabithia. The only way you can get there is to swing on the rope on the crab-apple tree across the dry creek-bed. Jess and Leslie are the rulers of Terabithia. Jess was never really happy until he and Leslie became friends and the king and queen of Terabithia. One day when there was no school, Jess' music teacher Miss Edmunds (whom he had a crush on) invited him to go to the museums with him in Washington DC. He didn't tell his parents about this because his dad had already left and his mother was sleeping. Jess and Miss Edmunds have a wonderful day in DC. But when Jess returns he is told some very bad news. Leslie went missing that day and they found her body in the flooded creek-bed (near Terabithia). His family had thought that he had been with Leslie also and was missing too. Jess has a hard time, as any child would, to come to grips with and understand what had just happened to this poor little girl. After the viewing and funeral and all that, Jess decides to build a bridge to Terabithia because the rope and broke, which is what sent Leslie into the overflowing river. His little sister May Belle always wanted to play with him and Leslie, so she followed Jess this day and got stuck on the bridge that Jess had built. Jess came running when he heard her calling for help and helped her across the bridge. Jess decided that Terabithia could not exist with out a queen. He realizes that his sister needs friends and an escape from the real world too and he makes May Belle the Queen of Terabithia.
Problems: Children curse a few times. Jess' sisters are mean and ungrateful to their mother and father. There is death in story as well.
Reaction: To be honest, I didn't really like it that much. I thought the ending was a little morbid for a children's book. I think the moral is great and that the book is very well written, I just didn't enjoy it like I thought I would. Like Jim Trelease said, just because it won an award doesn't mean you will like it.
Recommendation: I think this would be good book for a teacher to read to a class probably like thrid or forth graders.
No comments:
Post a Comment