Reading Challenge - #1. Bridge to Terabithia

Well, the first book I chose from my list was, as the title says, Bridge to Terabitha by Katherine Paterson. It follows the building of a friendship between Jess Aarons and Leslie Burke, the two main characters.

Overall, the book was good, but not what I expected. Of course, it was well below my reading level as it is a children's book, making the language really simple, a bit disjointed and a little boring in parts. The build-up to the climax took a really long time and didn't arrive until the third last chapter. Not a usual outline for a children's book. Due to this, I found the resolution very quick and a little lacking, although the ending was cute.

I also decided, because Bridge to Terabithia was made into a movie, that I would watch it too and make a comparison.

First, the book was published in 1977 and the movie made in 2007. So thirty years. The book is set in the 1960s from what I could gather, but the movie is in the modern age because electronics and the internet are brought up. It works, but I think the original time period should have been kept. It keeps pretty true to the novel, however I found it focused a lot more on the imagination and creatures of Terabithia than it did on the relationship between the two main characters. The book took more time developing their friendship than the movie. The movie also takes place over a shorter time frame than the book too. Which likely hindered the relationship development. Jess deals with the climax differently between novel vs movie as well. To which I liked the way the book handled it better. The ending was still just as cute.

I'm sure these posts will get better as I read and write about more books from my list.