Book VS. Movie "Bridge to Terabithia"

Paterson, K. (1977). Bridge to Terabithia. New York: HarperCollins.

This classic story was adapted for film by David L. Paterson and Jeff Stockwell. It was released in 2007 and directed by Gabor Csupo. I had heard this title mentioned for years and years, but had never taken the chance to read the book. I watched the movie a couple of months ago and loved it so much that I wanted to see how the book compared.

The movie followed along pretty well to Paterson's book. The story centers on a boy named Jess that is sort of an outcast at school, but he is fascinated with drawing. He has four sisters, one of which is named May Belle. She is several years younger than Jess and constantly wants to be at his side. Jess meets a girl named Leslie, who moves next door to him. Leslie experiences the same awkward treatment at school that Jess does. It takes the two a while to create a friendship, but once it is formed, the friendship is strong and centered upon their love of imagination. Jess and Leslie put their imagination powers together and create a magical forest that is home to a kingdom called Terabithia. Together they transform an abandoned treehouse into a fortress to protect their kingdom. One day Jess goes to an art museum with his teacher and comes home to learn that Leslie has had a terrible accident while swinging across a creek on rope to get to their special place, Terabithia. The story deals with death, bullying, sibling relationships, friendships, and how important one's imagination is.

In the movie, the viewer is able to see the intricate parts and characters that Jess and Leslie imagine. In Patterson's book on the other hand, the reader has to put together the clues and form their own image of the imaginary world of Terabithia. The movie involves a great deal of digitally animated creatures like large squirrels, birds, trolls, and other odd components of the children's imagination. The movie also takes some of the metaphors a little too far. A good example is in the movie when the troll is chasing Jess and Leslie in Terabithia. Paterson wrote this as a metaphor, comparing the troll to the school bully, Janice Avery. The movie makes this connection too obvious by having Janice's face appear as the trolls face.

I would recommend the book and movie. If you had rather rely on your own imagination to create the Terabithian creatures, you would probably enjoy the book more. Keep in mind that this story focuses on some pretty intense issues, such as dying and some negative references toward religion. This book is actually banned in some libraries due to language, witchcraft-like actions and references, and the negative religious references. I don't think these issues are serious enough to ban this book because they don't appear a great deal in the work. However, this is definitely for mature readers. I would recommend late middle school and up.