As part of this year’s first-ever Cousins’ Book Club, I selected two Newberry-winning titles that I’d always wanted to read. The kids must have agreed, because they voted for them too!

We followed The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman (winner, 1987) with Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson (winner, 1978). As is normal for me, I chose not to preview either book before diving in, so this one especially was surprising: far less fantasy than I had anticipated.

Brief Summary

This middle-school classic follows the friendship of nine-year-old Jess Aarons and the new girl in town, Leslie Burke, as they try to navigate the woes of life and school in rural Virginia in what seems like the 1970s. Together they develop a land of imagination called Terabithia in the woods, just across the creek—a secret land that no one can know about and that allows them to escape the reality of bullies and other nonsense together, if just for a while.

Beauty from a Winning Author

Katherine Patterson’s writing style is down-to-earth but profound, simple enough for a middle-schooler to grasp and deep enough for adults to enjoy. I love this description of Jess’s habits in drawing:

Jess drew the way some people drink whiskey. The peace would start at the top of his muddled brain and seep down through his tired and tensed-up body. Lord, he loved to draw. (Chapter 2)

Patterson grows these characters through their trials and friendship—with even a cute little crush on a music teacher—leading them ultimately to an end I did not expect.

The tragedy that unfolds shocked me, yet I wonder: why should it have? Children often face loss like the rest of us, though they’ll certainly deal with it ways unique to them, their personalities, and situations. Patterson handles this event with care and grace, and I’m sure it’s why the book struck such a chord—and why it will remain a classic story for discussion and learning for a long while to come.

A Moment When the Magic Was Broken

The depth of her characters’ imaginations is a keystone of the book, and as beautifully written as these elements generally are, there was one passage that momentarily turned the magic off for me—it was like when I saw tire tracks in the background of Braveheart: suddenly the realism was gone.

The passage was an exchange that seemed too ridiculous for a couple of 5th-grade children to have. Their words and turns of phrase made me realize suddenly that these kids weren’t real, that a grown woman was writing this thing and putting words into their mouths:

Like God in the Bible, they looked at what they had made and found it very good.

“You should draw a picture of Terabithia for us to hang in the castle,” Leslie said.

“I can’t.” How could he explain it in a way Leslie would understand, how he yearned to reach out and capture the quivering life about him and how when he tried, it slipped past his fingertips, leaving a dry fossil upon the page? “I just can’t get the poetry of the trees,” he said.

She nodded. “Don’t worry,” she said. “You will someday.” He believed her because there in the shadowy light of the stronghold everything seemed possible. (Chapter 3)

Beautiful, sure, but too flowery for my taste. This exchange sacrificed realism for poetry in a book that’s meant to be raw, and I felt it impacted the work for me. Not for the judges, obviously, who determine Newberry winners, or tor the millions of adoring fans. But for me, a 42-year-old dude who read middle-school fiction to his kids.

Conclusion

Beyond a few cases of “damn” and “Lord,” then language in this book is fitting for a pre-teen audience, though the themes are heavy. It’s a book that teaches all about fears and friendships, imagination, belonging, loss—-basically those things that middle-schoolers face, even if they aren’t ready to discuss it.

While I’d never expect a book like this to be doctrinally sound, I wasn’t thrilled with how Patterson handled the issues of death, Heaven and Hell. It does offer, however, a wonderful point for discussion—so parents and teachers, keep your eye out for that!

I loved this book and glad I finally read it!. My kids were less impressed by it than some of the other books we’ve enjoyed over the years, but the theme of death will do that sometimes. Next up for us: The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (2007).

©2025 E.T.