She wanted his approval, because it was ultimately his story to tell. When she was finished with the book, she read it to her son.

Even with an overlay of fiction, Bridge to Terabithia was undoubtedly a story about David and Lisa. In the following months, Kathrine Paterson wrote Bridge to Terabithia, a story about an artistic fifth grader, Jesse Aaron, and his neighbour, Leslie Burke, an eccentric and affable tomboy.

His mother remembered him crying, knowing there was nothing she or anyone else could do to bring her son’s friend back. While the whole community of Takoma Park, Maryland grieved for the loss of Lisa, David took the news as well as a boy his age could. They would spend their time playing imaginative games behind the house in the forest and feeling comfortable enough to tell each all their thoughts. They developed a relationship that was unusual for children their age where boys tended to hang out with boys and girls with girls. David had a lot of trouble adjusting to the new class at the beginning. Since second grade, David and Lisa were close companions. In an instant, Lisa, David Paterson’s best friend, was killed. Lisa was sitting at the edge of the water when a lightning bolt tore through the heavens and struck her. She was with her family: mother, brother and sister, at Bethany Beach in Delaware that sunny day. Lisa Christina Hill was eight years old on August 14, 1974. When David grew up, he adapted his mother’s story - his story and the story of his childhood best friend - turning it from a book in literature studies class to one of the highest grossing movies of 2007, a year that included Spider Man 3, Transformers, and The Simpson Movie. What can we learn after we have suffered a great irreparable loss? How can we go on? What she ended up creating was a story that gave the readers a rehearsal for the pains of life.īut it wasn’t simply Paterson’s life: Bridge to Terabithia was about her son, David L Paterson, as a child. So that was what Paterson set out to do, she wanted to understand what we’re supposed to do in the aftermath of a tragedy. Writing a story is about answering a question. Katherine Paterson’s novel Bridge to Terabithia is an attempt to make sense of an inconceivable situation, one few of us are ever prepared for. We ask, “Why did this have to happen?!” This is especially true when the tragedy was the result of an unfortunate twist of fate: a natural disaster. When something terrible occurs, we often try to make sense of it.

Book of terabithia