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Katherine
Paterson has given children's literature some of its most
endearing and infamous characters including Gilly Hopkins,
the mischievous orphan (The Great Gilly Hopkins) and
Louise and Caroline Bradshaw (Jacob, Have I Loved).
But none have been as innocent and genuine as Jess Aarons
and Leslie Burke from her 1978 Newbery Medal-winning novel
Bridge to Terabithia.
In Terabithia,
11-year-old Jess Aarons's goal for the upcoming fifth grade
year is to be the fastest runner at school. After years of
coming in second place to bigger and faster opponents, he
runs all summer in preparation. In a dramatic upset, Jess
not only loses the race, but loses to his new neighbor, a
10-year-old girl named Leslie Burke. Though the loss initially
chips away at Jess's ego, he finds a kindred spirit in Leslie,
the only child of wealthy urbanites who relocate to rural
Virginia to start a new life. Jess, the only boy among four
sisters, identifies with Burke, a tomboy and awkward dresser
immediately cast out by her peers.
In an
effort to escape the mundane aspects of their lives (chores
for Jess, no modern entertainment for Leslie, school for both),
Jess and Leslie crawl deep into the forest surrounding their
houses and create Terabithia, an imagined and magical kingdom
of which they ordain themselves its royal protectors. Leslie,
whose aptitude for imagination initially dwarfs Jess's, lights
the proverbial path that Jess desperately follows.
The story
alternates between the developing friendship between Jess
and Leslie and the pressures that surround them. Jess, for
example, is torn between his love of drawing and his father's
more masculine expectations, in addition to his obligations
to the house as the resident male (his father is often absent
working or looking for work in nearby Washington D.C.).
In Terabithia,
Paterson delicately creates a childhood experience where the
standard representations of make-believe appear more derived
from fantasy than a product of its extravagance. While the
characters in The Chronicles of Narnia (which Leslie
loans to Jess in an effort to expand his knowledge of magic
kingdom etiquette) literally step through a wardrobe and into
an alternate universe, Terabithia is always singularly realistic.
A large tree serves as a castle, a creek swells to form a
moat, and an old rope is the gateway from normalcy. Essentially,
Terabithia is what everyday kids imagined after reading Narnia;
any wardrobe will suffice to recreate the truly extraordinary.
Terabithia is both a distraction for the characters and the
reader, and a central hub to devise plans of action against
enemies, reenact television shows, and, ultimately, grow up.
A sudden
and decisive tragedy irreparably separates Jess and Leslie,
proving that even in Terabithia, just as much a physical safe
haven as an imagined one, life is not without strife or childhood
misfortune. Despite being regarded as one of the foremost
children's novels since its publication, Terabithia
is also routinely censored for dealing with death and aspects
of religion. In the end, Paterson writes about life as it
actually is, complete with letdowns, bullies, and first loves.
(July,
2007)
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