Bridge to Teribithia, by Katherine Paterson, is a wonderful story about Jess Aarons, a young boy "training" to be the fastest kid in the fifth grade, and Leslie Burke, a girl with a big imagination and not many friends. Mrs. Paterson tells us of how Jess learns to overcome his many fears and how Leslie helped him to accomplish it, and then how he realized how she changed his life in such short time.

Leslie moves to Jess' town and they meet each other before school starts. On the first day of school, during recess, Leslie went over to Jess wanting to race with all the boys. They let her and she won! But Jess did not get angry, he made friends with her!

Leslie and Jess create a secret land called Teribithia in which they are the king and queen. The two spend many happy days in Teribithia, swinging across the creek on a rope, fighting imaginary enemies, and building their castle.

When Christmas rolls around, Jess is anxious to get Leslie a present. Finally, one day he sees a sign that reads, "Puppies--free". Jess hops off the school bus, planning to give one to Leslie, and runs home with a puppy under his coat. Leslie loves the pup, which she names P.T., short for Prince Terrian. Jess is now very happy about his gift to Leslie. After Christmas, rain pours down for weeks. One day his music teacher phoned him, wanting to take him to a museum in Washington, D.C. He leaves shortly and has a wonderful time in Washington. When he returns, he receives terrible news. Leslie drowned in the creek while he was gone, trying to reach Teribithia! Jess could not believe it. He did not, in fact. Then he realizes it was true. He wanted to forget about her, pretend she never happened, but he couldn't. Leslie had been his only real true friend. She taught him to not be afraid of his many fears and to not care what everyone else thought, be yourself! Now she was gone and Jess was lonely and scared again.

That day while sitting by the creek crying, Jess' father came up. He had never had a good relationship with his dad. But now he tries to comfort Jess and the two get reacquainted. It is just the beginning of a new relationship with his father.

The next day Jess went to Teribithia. Suddenly he hears, "Help Jess!" He races to the creek to find May Belle, his six year old sister stuck on a tree bridge across the creek. He had always been afraid to cross the creek without Leslie, and now she wasn't there to help him. The creek current was strong and the water was high. He walked onto the tree bridge. May Bell was too frightened to move. Quickly but gently he grabbed her hand and rushed her to the other side. He had done it! He was never afraid to cross the creek after that. He and May Belle race home and he later made her queen of Teribithia.

I think this was a really great book about how Leslie taught Jess to overcome his fears. Katherine Paterson uses crossing the creek as a symbol of his many other fears, so when he learned to cross the creek, he learned not to be afraid to do other things. Bridge to Teribithia is a really wonderful book and I recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Caution: it does have some curse words in it but they do not affect the story.
Submitted by Carrie Pippins of Classical Conversations

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare is a story about a Jewish boy named Daniel. He hates the Romans who killed his parents. He is loyal to Rosh, the captain of some rebels, and anyone else who hates the Romans, but he is compassionate to his sister Leah and his friends.

Daniel won't forgive the Romans who killed his parents. Daniel vowed to give his life for his country and to spend the rest of his life trying to rid his country of the Roman soldiers. He treated the Romans with disrespect and he was always cursing them.

He was loyal to his family, Rosh, and his friends. He took good care of his sister and provided food for her and made her feel good. He was loyal to Rosh and would do what Rosh told him to do with no questions and as well as he could. He would listen to his friends and would give his life for them.

Daniel was compassionate to his sister Leah. He took care of Leah when she was down and when she was sick. When Jesus healed Leah, Daniel let Leah's friend, a Roman soldier, go into their house and Daniel showed him kindness.

After Daniel met Jesus he could forgive the Romans.
Submitted by Carrie Pippins of Classical Conversations