Movies - Bridge to Terabithia

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	Movies - Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge to Terabithia is a book of children's fiction written by Katherine Paterson. It was first published in 1977, and won the Newbery Medal in 1978. It tells the story of Jesse Aarons, and his friendship with newly arrived next-door-neighbour Leslie Burke, a friendship which teaches them both much about the world - and gives Jesse the strength to survive its tragic end.

Plot

Jess is the only boy in a family of five children. His mother seems to favor his sisters, and his father works in a distant city and doesn't have much time for him. Leslie's family has just moved to this area in an attempt to start a new life. Both children are loners who don't fit in with their peers at school: Jess is intensely interested in art, and Leslie's family shuns religion, and doesn't even own a television set. The two outsiders soon become close friends. Together, they create an imaginary kingdom in the woods near their homes, accessible only by a rope swing over a creek, that they name "Terabithia." They crown themselves King and Queen, and spend many hours there.

The central crisis of the novel occurs when Jess accompanies a teacher to an art show in Washington D.C., and Leslie goes to Terabithia alone. The rope breaks as she is swinging over the rain-swollen creek, and she drowns. Jess finds out about the accident when he returns from his trip. Jess can overcome his grief only with the strength and courage that his friendship with Leslie has given him.

The plot of the book originated in real-life experiences. When Katherine Paterson's son was a child, his close friend Lisa Hill was killed by lightning. Paterson wrote the book while coming to terms with this loss.

In the United States the novel was one of the most banned and challenged books of the 1990s, due largely to death being a part of the plot, Jess's frequent use of the word "Lord" outside of prayer, and concerns that the book promotes secular humanism and New Age religions, occultism, Satanism, and for accusations of sexual content. In contrast, during the same era the book was studied in English classes in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Terebithia / Terebinthia

Terabithia is the imaginary kingdom in Bridge to Terabithia
. The similarly named Terebinthia, however, is an island in the fictional world of Narnia, briefly mentioned in the The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a novel by C. S. Lewis.

Katherine Paterson acknowledges that Terebithia is likely derived from Terebinthia:

"I thought I had made it up. Then, rereading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis, I realized that I had probably gotten it from the island of Terebinthia in that book. However, Lewis probably got that name from the Terebinth tree in the Bible, so both of us pinched from somewhere else, probably unconsciously."

In film

Bridge to Terabithia was made into a film for the Disney Channel in 1985, starring Julian Coutts and Julie Beaulieu. A new version planned for a 2007 release is in the works at Walden Media, with Gabor Csupo directing.

Some filming took place in early February 2006, at Riverhead Primary School in Riverhead, New Zealand. The school became Lark Creek Elementary School for the duration of the shoot, which occurred during the school's summer vacation.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Bridge to Terabithia ]

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