Fall 2021: Wild Readers Group 5 discussion

Bridge to Terabithia was gorgeous. It’s a famous book, so I was prepared for the gorgeousness. I wasn’t prepared for the tragedy, though--and it really shook me. I was so shaken that I posted on social media how shaken I was to see who else had read it. Lots of folks had felt the same. What I think I loved most about it was the setting--the feel of a rural place out in the country, back in time. A creek, rocks, nature-fortresses. Busy families preoccupied with their lives and how to manage adversity--and the strong personalities that emerge from there. Jesse and Leslie became close to me as a reader. Partially because they sought for their places in the social world of school, which I could relate to (who can’t?); partially because they became such good friends despite their gender--which was interesting and different. They were so vividly drawn and so real that I believed every word Paterson wrote. And the ending? Left me crying. And when a book leaves me crying, I’m immersed in the sadness or the sorrow of the story but I also feel joy from truth and from the resilience that any good, authentic character possesses.
I think some folks might think this book is too sad. But I don’t see books this way at all. If children can’t experience sadness or grief, which they will experience in their actual lives, in a classroom with a supportive community and a supportive teacher--then we have a much bigger problem than whatever happens in a novel. School is the perfect place for sad and true books of all kinds.