There ’s a genre of children ’s literature in which the young heroes discover — or make — a fantasy humans in ordering to cope with their existent - life trouble . The Lion , the Witch , and the Wardrobeby C.S. Lewis might be among the most renowned . But for others , writer Katherine Paterson ’s 1977novelBridge to Terabithiais the ultimate escape in escapist fiction .
In an effort to avoid the realities of fifth score in their rural Virginia community , unspoilt friends Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burkeheadfor Terabithia , an enchanted world late in the wood and conjured by Leslie . The experience not only heighten their friendly relationship but prepares them for unexpected calamity to come — one that still surprise lector to this day . ( spoiler will follow . )
For more onBridge to Terabithia , including Paterson ’s brainchild and her status as a Living Legend , keep reading .
Before writingBridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson wanted to be a missionary in China.
Paterson ’s road to becoming an author take a destiny of detours . She wasbornin 1932 in China , where her parents were missionaries . The family was force tomoveback to the United States during World War II , finally ending up in Winchester , Virginia . Paterson attended King University ( then King College ) in Tennessee and taught for a year at a rural school in Virginia , where she once pronounce many of her student were as irrepressible as Jesse Aarons .
After graduate shoal , Paterson wanted to point to China but , in 1957 , the borders were closed . She headed to Japan to learn , rejoin to the U.S. after four days , and met and wed a Presbyterian curate in 1962 . The church wanted some course of study idea from Paterson , so she began to write — and never stopped . Historical novels about Japan werefollowedby her young grownup fiction likeThe Great Gilly Hopkins(1978 ) andBridge to Terabithia .
Bridge to Terabithiawas inspired by a real-life incident.
When Paterson ’s boy David was just 8 years honest-to-goodness , he had a best friend named Lisa Hill . The two frequently hung outneara brook bed in Takoma Park , Maryland . Tragically , Lisa died after being move by lightning .
The next year , Paterson went to a encounter of the Children ’s Book Guild of Washington ; when someone asked how her Thomas Kyd were , “ Instead of saying they were all right , I began to sniffle out everything that was not fine . When I finally ran out of steam , there was this utter quiet . ”
Eventually , one of the other member told her that she needed to write the story , with the caveat that “ the nipper ca n’t die by lightning because no editor program would ever believe that . ” Patterson recalled , “ I went back to my theatre that day , and I think , ‘ I ca n’t make sense of Lisa ’s death , but the story has to make sense . So I ’m going to attempt to spell the tale . ’ ”
InBridge to Terabithia , friends Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke savour a unattackable bond before one of them encounter an wrong end ; the book isdedicatedto David and Lisa . ( David laterwrotethe 2007 motion picture adaptation of the novel . ) A maple tree was establish in 2005 near their elementary school day to honor Hill .
The nameTerabithiacame from another book.
“ I thought I ’d made up ‘ Terabithia , ’ ” Patersonwroteon her internet site . “ I realize when the Bible was nearly done , that there is an island inThe Voyage of the Dawn Treaderby C. S. Lewis called ‘ Terebinthia . ’ I ’m certain I borrowed that unconsciously , but , then , so would Leslie who loved the Chronicles of Narnia . And , by the way , Lewis get Terebinthia from the biblical terebinth tree , so it was n’t original with him either . ”
Paterson thoughtBridge to Terabithiawould be “too personal” to succeed …
Though the novel stand for a lot to Paterson personally , she did n’t feel as though it would resonate with the residuum of the world . “ I suppose it was such a secret ledger that my editor program probably would n’t want to publish it ; and if he require to write it , I think nobody would take it ; and if they record it , [ I conceive ] nobody would understand it , ” shetoldChristianity Todayin 2007 . “ I was dismayed to realize that teachers were reading it out loudly in schools . It just seemed like a very , very private , personal story . ”
… And her son found it hard to read.
“ David still , now with two little boys of his own , findsBridgea very difficult book to read , ” Paterson writes in her site FAQ . “ It ’s too close to the pearl . Any therapeutic time value the book had was for me , facing not only Lisa ’s expiry but my own death rate call . I had cancer that year and was hearing the bell toll . ”
Bridge to Terabithiais a highly controversial book.
The climax toBridge to Terabithia — in which Leslie falls to her death while swinging from a tree to cross the creek bed and enter Terabithia — is something Paterson once called “ emotional practice ” for brokenheartedness in life . But it ’s also unsparing enough to have invited unfavorable judgment over the years . The book often lands on the American Library Association ’s list of cast out depository library books and wasfixedin ninth space of the tilt ’s top 100 between 1990 and 2000 .
There won’t be a sequel.
Readers often ask Paterson if she ’ll revisit Terabithia , specifically to tell more of Jesse ’s story . Paterson answered frankly on her website : “ No . I feel powerfully that Jesse has earned his privateness . ”
Bridge to Terabithiahas been adapted twice.
While you might be most intimate with the 2007 film starring Josh Hutcherson ( 2012’sThe Hunger Games ) and AnnaSophia Robb ( 2011’sSoul Surfer ) , there was in reality a made - for - television version ofBridge to Terabithiaproducedin 1985 for PBS . Julian Coutts and Julie Beaulieu co - starred ; Annette O’Toole played teacher Ms. Edmunds .
Paterson is a certified Living Legend.
Paterson’saccoladesfor her body of work have been considerable . She ’s succeed twoNewbery Medalsand one Newbery Honor Award , two National Book Awards , the Hans Christian Andersen Award , and wasnameda Living Legend by the Library of Congress in 2000 . That award , which recognizes originative contributions to American life , also acknowledgedJudy Blume , Maurice Sendak , andSteven Spielberg , among others .
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A version of this account melt in 2021 ; it has been update for 2024 .
