Last weekend I finished my first book for the SRT. I remember reading Bridge to Terabithia when I was younger and really liking it, but I didn't remember anything about the story. Because of the movie previews from last year, I expected the book to be about the magical, imaginary kingdom of Terabithia, and was at first disappointed to find that it's not at all about that. In fact nothing in the book talked about anything happening in Terabithia, rather just mentions that the main characters, Jess and Leslie, created it and "went" there every day after school to play.
(spoiler this paragraph) After finishing, I was okay with the fact that this book wasn't about Terabithia, but about the bridge - a bridge that allows Jess to move on with life after the death of a loved one. A bridge to memories that remind him it's okay to imagine...dare...believe.
I give the book 3 stars out of 5 because it was very slow moving and seemed to not have a plot at all until the last several pages when you realize the book is about a child dealing with the loss of a friend, and not about a magical kingdom. If the book was twice as long as it is, I probably wouldn't have finished it. Boring, but soulful... if those two words are allowed to describe the same thing.
I rented the movie and really enjoyed it. The casting was perfect and I feel the movie was everything the book wasn't. It added in a few exciting scenes about what happened in Terabithia and the family dynamics were much more poignant in the movie than in the book. Add in music, cinematography, etc., and the movie was much more powerful than the book. Still, for a movie, it gets 3 out of 5 as well.
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