Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Bridge to Terabithia

Revisited it now as an adult and though it’s a moving story with beautiful writing at times, I was thrown off by the amount of fathobia. It’s much in the context of kids being cruel to each other but it was unexpected and went unchallenged. Other than that I really enjoyed it now and as a child even though it punched me in the gut when I first read it.

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erniedresser's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA is about friendship, loneliness, sexism, bullying, rural isolation, and grief. Jesse is a lonely boy with too many sisters who meets a kid named Leslie, together they make invisible castles in the trees, finding out that even their bullies have bullies and nothing lasts forever.

Reading this as an adult, I'm struck by how Jesse thought that Leslie was making up from scratch stories like Moby Dick and Hamlet, it's just one small moment that exemplifies how good this book is at relaying through Jesse things that he doesn't actually understand but just tells like he sees them, allowing a younger reader to follow his thoughts as a fellow kid, or for an older one to understand the bits he missed. Leslie and Jesse bump into sexism and gendered constraints, often pushing through them and sometimes having to keep their heads down and fit in a bit longer. The kids feel like kids, not always saying or doing the right thing but trying their best. I like the way Jesse's relationship with his younger sister changes throughout the book, especially at the end when he's actively working to be a better brother to her and prompting her to be a better sibling to their even younger sister who's still a toddler.

I probably wouldn't give this particular book to people who are kids now, mainly due to ableist language which is unchallenged in the text, but it meant a lot to me when I first read it. It's the kind of book that haunts long after you put it down.

This book is famous for a shocking event that occurs near the end and transforms the tone of the book. This review contains spoilers from here on out.

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BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA is not free of trauma before the death. One could argue that it hints at the possibility by having the kids discuss the idea of death several chapters before it becomes suddenly relevant. Part of the point is that it's sudden. That it's sudden, and unfair, and it rocks Jesse's sense of how the world is, how it ought to be. Jesse's numb grief and conflicted emotions reactions to being unable to see Leslie again, along with his bursts of anger when his younger sister pesters him about it, make it feel very real. I'm glad that we're (hopefully) past the point that this book where the gender non-conforming atheist character dies might be the only queer representation one someone's shelf.

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juttaleupe's review against another edition

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emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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overbookedmama's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is the first book I reread as part of my 2024 rereading project and it completely wrecked me. I think I cried even harder as an adult than I did as a kid. Katherine Paterson writes some of the most beautiful and vivid analogies. Bridge to Terabithia dives into some pretty heavy themes like war, religion, otherness, gender norms, societal expectations, fatphobia, and abuse in a way that is gentle enough for children to relate to and learn from. Rereading this book as an adult made me realize that kids can and need to process some of these difficult emotions and Bridge to Terabithia provides that escape.

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penofpossibilities's review against another edition

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reflective sad slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Movie is definitely better. I appreciated the friendship between the main characters and Leslie was really amazing. But I couldn't get past the constant fatphobia, saying it's not big deal being abused, mc referring to another character as "it" and other aweful things. The description of grief seemed well enough but it should have been spread out over more time. You telling me this kid did the whole grief processing cycle in 2 days?? Whut.

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