Bridge To Terabithia

Concerning Bridge to Terabithia, the controversial parts of the book can easily be explained. For example, the challenger is unhappy with the tragic ending of the book and claims that it is detrimental to the child; however, it is quite the opposite. According to Clarissa A. Wills’s article, “The Grieving Process in Children: Strategies for Understanding, Educating, and Reconciling Children 's Perceptions of Death,” it states, “Today, American children grow up in a society that avoids grief and the inevitability of death” (1). In reality, a parent cannot shield their children from death. In reality, people die and their loved ones will have to grieve, cope and move on without them. So, Leslie’s death could familiarize a child with the fact that

With Bridge to Terabithia, the characters are realistic as well as the story due to Katherine Paterson’s way of writing in addition to not over censoring herself. Katherine Paterson let’s her characters have flaws and face real life issues. In other words the characters are similar to the children reading the book in regarding Jesse and Leslie’s emotions/feelings and the obstacles they face. With children 's emotions and feelings, all children differ. This is represented in Bridge to Terabithia with the main two characters; Jesse tries to fit in and tries not to be the “weird one” and Leslie continues to be herself even when made fun of. Children with self confidence issues could relate a lot with Jesse because in the beginning of the story he would hide the things he loved to do from his classmates because he feared he would be made fun of. This is illustrated in the story when Jesse trains all summer to be fast because when he won the race last year he was no longer “that ‘crazy little kid that draws all the time’” (Paterson 4) and even though he loved to draw he just wanted to be normal. This is shown again when he hides his picture from Fulcher (a classmate), when writing that his favorite thing to do is watch football even though he despises it and when Jesse tries to make sure his father doesn’t see his pictures. Children that feel they can’t have an interest in something because of their gender need to be shown that it is alright to be different or they will lose interest in it. Moving on to Leslie, when she is bullied because of the way she dresses and for her boyish attitude she becomes upset and yet she does not attempt to change. This can be an example for children that pursue their interests and are self-confident but believe