Going beyond Appreciating

   1^st Draft 

   I loved the fact that Bridge to Terabithia is a book you can become immersed in- a land of magical creatures, friendship, loyalty, and imagination. The one thing that Katherine Paterson describes so effectively is the power and source of friendship, how it’s so important, and how it influences everyone’s life.

   The one thing that made me enjoy reading this book again was the fact that it never gets old no matter how old you are. Terabithia is a land where you aren’t judged by how fast you run, how old you are, (that rule was changed toward the end when May Belle had become the new queen of Terabithia and Leslie died, so Jess needed somebody whether it was his sister to help him rule), and how rich or poor you are. It’s a land in which there are no worries, all of them left behind, the only thing that is with you is the source of imagination. It makes me feel as if Paterson is trying to unfold a secret no one had ever seen or heard of. For instance, although you may be twenty or even eighty, the source of imagination is still there. She explains hidden inside the book’s words, deep inside, that you really are never to old to imagine.

  


   An example is in chapter four, when Leslie wants a place of their own, where there isn't anyone to stop them from doing what they like, a mystical special place for them- and them only. It made me, the reader, wonder how unusual it probably was to have an imagination during that particular age. Usually that was the time when you were aging toward your teens, or twelves. But Paterson made it seem okay for kids Leslie and Jess's age to imagine. At points when you observe young kids, (like Jess and Leslie, who were in the fifth
grade), you don't see them imagining as much as you would or had when you were a child.

  
 I appreciated how Paterson makes you never want to leave Terabithia; she makes you be there, amongst Jess and Leslie. She makes a mentor out of Leslie, she is the one that had opened Jess’s life and imagination, and she was the one who had changed the way he lived. At points after reading Bridge to Terabithia, it makes me wonder what would’ve happened if Leslie had never died or if she was never there. 

 Not only does it make you wonder deeply, it identifies the strength of friendship, how Jess was still Leslie’s friend although it wasn’t normal for a guy and a girl to be friends. But the rope that had tightened around that friendship had slowly begun to untie, to brake and get weak. It had all happened because of Jess’s mistake of not bringing Leslie, putting her under his selfish needs, what good did he get when he went with his teacher to the museum? Leslie died behind him, it was like an eye for an eye, or somewhat similar to that. 

   
Paterson makes the reader ponder about the reason why the book was written when it is all right in front of them. She shows the tie of friendship and what happens if you slowly begin to untie it, everything that had happened before you would slowly dissipate. All those laughs, smiles and fun, it would disappear. Paterson shows the importance behind being loyal and what would happen if you weren’t the person others thought you were. Bridge to Terabithia isn't your usually every day book; it’s a book with a true lesson, along with what would happen if the lesson wasn’t learned. This book opened both emotions and imagination, and although the imagination factor was hidden I still appreciate the fact that Paterson made it seem that you are never too old to imagine.