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About a week ago the 90-Second Newbery premiered at New York Public Library (PW did a nice write-up of it here) and the afternoon was a stellar success.  My Lit Salon went over so I didn’t have a chance to see much of it, but fortunately James Kennedy, who created the darn thing, did me a favor and curated some of the best little videos of the year.

First off, what may well be my favorite video.  Claymation has always done the 90-Second Newbery proud.  Now they’re all the prouder with a Claymation version of Steve Sheinkin’s Bomb: The Race To Build–And Steal–The World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Jennings Mergenthal of Tacoma, WA.

Extra points for the Tom Lehrer at the end.

Then it’s Ramona And Her Father done as a musical by the kids at Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development.  I felt very proud that as an adult I could identify all but two of the tunes they were singing.

How about that father doing The Snake?  Kid’s got moves!  Plus this had the advantage of making me want to read that book again.

But why watch just one?  In today’s economy a story about a dad losing his job has special significance.  This Ramona And Her Father is done as a James Bond movie by a different set of kids at Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development.

What’s particularly interesting to me is that both Ramonas used very similar stock images of suburban houses between their shots.  I also love that in this one they decided to pay attention to the details and put the driver on the British side of the car.

I love too clever teenagers.  So this ominous foreshadowing ridden version of Bridge To Terabithia by Rochester Community Television in Rochester, NY appeals to the 15-year-old in me.

And finally . . . MORE stop animation!  This time it’s the Atwater’s Mr. Popper’s Penguins courtesy of Girl Scout Troop 2539 from Urbana, IL.

I told you I had a weakness for that stuff.

For our off-topic video, this has nothing to do with 90-Second Newbery and everything to do with House of Cards.  It’s the Sesame Street parody.  Seemed fitting in an odd way.  We’re all about the homages today.

#10 Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (1977)
128 points

I had read many other books where characters died, but it was always for a “good” or “glorious” reason. This was the first time I read a book that reflected real life, where death is sudden, pointless, and gut-wrenching. I was so upset that I refused to re-read the book for years. – Ann Carpenter

The teacher read this book to our class. I still remember that punch-in-the-stomach shock and trying-not-to-cry throat ache I felt when she read the ending. I never knew before Bridge to Terabithia that a story could make you care so much about people who don’t actually exist. – Bigfoot Reads

“The time a child needs a book about life’s dark passages is before he or she has had to experience them. We need practice with loss, rehearsal for grieving, just as we need preparation for decision making.” – Katherine Paterson.

Our former National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature appears yet again on this list, and her Terabithia (which did not crack the Top Ten last time around) sits proudly here.

The synopsis from the publisher reads, “All summer, Jess pushed himself to be the fastest boy in the fifth grade, and when the year’s first school-yard race was run, he was going to win.  But his victory was stolen by a newcomer, by a girl, one who didn’t even know enough to stay on the girls’ side of the playground. Then, unexpectedly, Jess finds himself sticking up for Leslie, for the girl who breaks rules and wins races. The friendship between the two grows as Jess guides the city girl through the pitfalls of life in their small, rural town, and Leslie draws him into the world of imaginations world of magic and ceremony called Terabithia. Here, Leslie and Jess rule supreme among the oaks and evergreens, safe from the bullies and ridicule of the mundane world. Safe until an unforeseen tragedy forces Jess to reign in Terabithia alone, and both worlds are forever changed.”

How did it come about? According to Children’s Literature Review Paterson’s career started in this way: “In 1964 Paterson began her professional writing career formulating curricula for school systems. She eventually began writing fiction and, nine years later, her first novel, The Sign of the Chrysanthemum, was published in 1973. While her literary career began flourishing during the 1970s, Paterson was also faced with a number of difficult personal events, including surviving a cancerous tumor and losing her mother to cancer. During this period, her young son David lost a close friend who was tragically struck by lightning. While attending the annual meeting of the Children’s Book Guild of Washington that same year, Paterson recounted her son’s recent loss to the attendees, and Anne Durell, an editor for Dutton Publishing’s children’s literature imprint, suggested that the incident could be the basis for a children’s novel. Thus, Paterson began writing the manuscript for Bridge to Terabithia, which became a critical and popular success.” Durrell, to her credit, also said to Paterson at the time, “Of course, the child can’t die by lightning. No editor would ever believe that.”  True.

As Ms. Paterson said in her Newbery acceptance speech, when her son’s best friend was struck by lightning, he went through “all the classical stages of grief, inventing a few the experts have yet to catalogue. In one of these he decided that since Lisa had been good, God had not killed her for her sins but as a punishment for him, David. Moreove

Using the Hero’s Journey to Plot

At the Michigan SCBWI conference two weeks ago, I was asked to teach about the Hero’s Journey. Taken from Joseph Campbell’s classic work on folklore, the hero’s journey is a classic paradigm for plot, especially for quest stories. The best book for studying the hero’s journey is The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler.

While we usually see the hero’s journey used for a quest story, it can be used in many other types of stories, including contemporary children’s stories. Here’s my take on how The Bridge to Terabithia fits into the Hero’s Journey. I doubt Paterson was thinking about this paradigm as she wrote; but it’s a classic paradigm that can shortcut your plotting process and give you something great to work with.

ORDINARY WORLD

OPENING or BRIDGING CONFLICT: Jess wants to run, but his family doesn’t appreciate him.
Main Supporting Character hinted at: new family moving into Perkin’s old place.

Jess wants to do art, as supported by (Mentor) Miss Edmunds, but his family doesn’t think it’s worth his time to pursue.

Meets Leslie and the first week of classes, she beats all the boys at running. (Notice that Leslie doesn’t enter the story until chapter 3! The Ordinary World is often slighted by beginning writers and this is an excellent example to study for the importance of this stage.)

CALL TO ADVENTURE/REFUSAL

After the race Leslie tries to befriend him, telling him he’s the “only kid in this durned school worth shooting,” but he brushes her off brusquely, telling her, “So shoot me.”

MEETING WITH MENTOR

The one bright spot on the horizon is Miss Edmunds’s weekly visit to the school.

2ND CALL TO ADVENTURE

Leslie admits to class that her family doesn’t have a TV. Jess wants to protect/comfort her, but can’t.

CROSSING THE THRESHOLD

Jess supports Leslie against girl bully, Janice Avery.
Their friendship begins.

TESTS, ENEMIES AND ALLIES

Jess and Leslie’s friendship continues to grow and deepen in the next couple of months, both in school and in Terabithia.

• Enemies: Janice Avery has a subplot of her own.
• Tests: Christmas gifts – Jess finds free puppy, Prince Terrin, for Leslie;
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Press Release:

Katherine Paterson, two-time winner of the National Book Award and Newbery Medal, was today named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. Paterson will serve in the position during 2010 and 2011; she succeeds Jon Scieszka, appointed in 2008, who was the first person to hold the title. Katherine Paterson has chosen “Read for Your Life” as the theme for her platform.

“Katherine Paterson represents the finest in literature for young people,” said Dr. Billington. “Her renown is national as well as international, and she will most ably fulfill the role of a national ambassador who speaks to the importance of reading and literacy in the lives of America’s youth.”

The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature is named by the Librarian of Congress for a two-year term, based on recommendations from a selection committee representing many segments of the book community. The selection criteria include the candidate’s contribution to young people’s literature and ability to relate to children. The position was created to raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education, and the development and betterment of the lives of young people.

“Katherine Paterson is a longtime friend and supporter of the Library of Congress, and we are honored that she will be the national spokesperson for our message to young people, parents and caregivers that reading is fundamental for success in life,” said John Y. Cole, the Center’s director. “Katherine has been a popular speaker at previous National Book Festivals, and we look forward to her participation in the 2010 event.”

Katherine Paterson’s international fame rests not only on her widely acclaimed novels but also on her efforts to promote literacy in the United States and abroad. A two-time winner of the Newbery Medal (”Bridge to Terabithia” and “Jacob Have I Loved”) and the National Book Award (”The Great Gilly Hopkins” and “The Master Puppeteer”), she has received many other accolades for her body of work, including the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, given by her home state of Vermont. Paterson was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress in 2000. Paterson’s most recent book is “The Day of the Pelican,” a moving, dramatic story of a refugee family’s flight from war-torn Kosovo to America. She and her husband, John, live in Barre, Vt. They have four children and seven grandchildren. For more information, visit www.terabithia.com.

SOURCE Library of Congress

Here’s how it all played out. I go to my e-mail one day to find a piece of correspondence that, at first glance, appears to be spam for Fandango. You know. That pre-ordered ticket service that advertises with multiple talking paper bags. So I delete said suspected spam, move on, then my brain does a quick double take. Wait a minute. Did that spam just have the letters HMOCL in its subject line? A quick double check and lo and behold I’ve been sent a free theater ticket by HMOCL #26 (ten points if you can name him). To what end? My sweet admirer asked that I see Bridge to Terabithia and review it on this here bloggy thingy. Never one to pass up free stuff (with the possible exception of free mouthwash, ‘cause that’s nasty) I decided to do exactly that…. approximately a month after he sent me the tickets. No one ever claimed I was quick. And even after I saw the film I needed at least a week and a half to digest it (i.e. I felt lazy and didn’t write when I should have). Now I’ve masticated, digested, chewed my cud, redigested (ew), and I think I’m ready to give this film its full due long after anyone cares anymore. Which is just another way of saying, if you haven’t checked out the Horn Book reviewer Martha V. Parravano’s take on this film, you may wish to do so. If you absolutely must read only one review of Bridge to Terabithia, read that one.

First and foremost, if you wish for any plot points in this movie (particularly of the “film’s ending” variety) to remain unknown to you, don’t read me. Not only am I filling this pup with spoilers, I intend to dance a tarantella on the remains of any mystery that might surround Terabithia’s “surprise”. Got that? Gone? Cool. Cause Leslie Burke totally dies in this film and that’s the only thing I knew about the book growing up. For years I eschewed any books that might be deemed “depressing” for fear that they might… I dunno… depress me. So fare thee well, Jacob Have I Loved. Toodle-oo, Chocolate War. And don’t you hold that Bridge to Terabithia too close to me there. You don’t know where it’s been! It wasn’t until I hit the grand old age of 20 or so that I finally picked up the dreaded tome and read it through. Such a great book. Containing one of the best first sentences in children’s literature (“Ba-room, ba-room, ba-room, baripity, baripity, baripity, baripity—Good.”) this is one of those American classics you can enjoy even as you weep. It is also, I might add, one of the top two Let’s Introduce Kids to the Concept of Death children’s novels out there. The other, you may have guessed, is Charlotte’s Web which was ALSO filmed by Walden Media not too long ago. My guess is that if you see any Disney employees sniffing around My Brother Sam Is Dead or Lois Lowry’s A Summer to Die, don’t act surprised.

Anywho, I liked the book but since I didn’t love it intensely as a child, I could remain separated from it and see whether or not this film improved on the original story or not. After sitting through fifteen or sixteen trailers for other upcoming children’s movies (the fact that Mimzy is not a horror film is still baffling to me) off we went. I was watching Bridge to Terabithia in a theater with about ten other people on a Tuesday afternoon around 4:45. There is no better way to fly.

First and foremost, I’d just like to say that I liked it. And I really didn’t expect to either. I’ve a very low tolerance for poorly made films of any type and children’s features are no exception. I wasn’t prepped to like it much either. I’d had a library patron come up to me a couple days earlier lamenting at length the various problems she saw in the film. On the other hand, at the ALA Conference in Seattle some of my Newbery colleagues saw a preview of the movie and gave it a thumbs up. Who to believe? As it happens, I’m standing with my fellow colleagues. This was a strong feature that won you over even when it faltered. David Paterson, son of the author and the kid who inspired the character of Jesse Aarons dead-best-female-friendwise, did his job to the best of his abilities.

Now the greatest fear of any fan of the book has always been how effectively Terabithia’s able to switch between the real and the fantastical. At best, I was hoping for a kind of Heavenly Creatures shift, but Paterson’s even subtler than that. The lamentable movie trailer that made the film appear to be all fight scenes alongside very little reality was easy to forget in the face of Paterson’s slow introduction to all things mystical. The first time Jesse sees Leslie read a work of her own in class, her words are so vivid to him that he can see little bubbles when she describes the experience of snorkeling. When I saw this I was poised to believe that the film might make it seem as if Leslie has some kind of hypnotic power over Jesse, but that’s not really the case. Imagination in both its practical (writing and painting) and otherworldly (fantasy world) incarnations is honored here. What Jesse and Leslie do is no more than play a kind of Dungeons and Dragons game without hard and fast rules (or twelve-sided dice for that matter). Reviewer Martha V. Parravano did criticize the film for making Terabithia such a menacing place to escape to, but I think that was the whole point. It’s a cathartic area where the two kids can fight the demons they encounter in school. The bully of a girl that gets them both in trouble becomes a monstrous troll. The annoying boys are creepy squirrel-like creatures. Some of this is a bit heavy-handed, as when Jesse is “rescued” by the troll after her realistic counterpart has been helped by Leslie at school. Still, I don’t think kids are being patronized to here.

I had some mixed feelings on the casting of the children. No objections to Josh Hutcherson who played Jesse Aarons, mind you. Looking at his film career (which is extensive, to say the least), you can see that this was a far subtler part than the standard bullies and random kids he’s had to play in the past. What I liked about Josh was that when he delivered a line, you didn’t get the sense that it was something written down that he’d memorized and was now reciting. Hutcherson’s a natural actor who knows how to take on a part fully. I wish the same could have been said about his co-star AnnaSophia Robb. She’s just as much an acting veteran as Josh, but the girl needs to take a page or two out of his book. Where Josh would deliver a line like it just occurred to him on the spot, AnnaSophia placed delicate pauses after each one of her sentences. She’s great at enunciation, no question, but you never felt attached to her or her character. I blame the casting to some extent here, of course. The idea is that Leslie and Jesse are friends occurs in part because none of the other kids in school want to be their friends. But the minute AnnaSophia walks into her new classroom, it’s impossible to suspend your disbelief. THAT girl can’t make friends? Not only is she the loveliest creature you ever did see but her clothes are so incredibly cool that it’s all you can do to believe that children wouldn’t swarm around her the minute she so much as breathed near them. Someone a little more butch and a little less delicate could have possibly convinced viewers to care for Leslie and her death, but AnnaSophia was not that girl. Almost making up for her, though, was Lauren Clinton as the bully Janice Avery. I couldn’t get enough of that girl. It’s a singularly unlovely part and Lauren embraces Janice’s ugliness head-on without ever disintegrating into caricature. But the killing blow to the film was almost struck by the casting of Bailee Madison as Jesse’s little sister. I’ve a very low tolerance for, what I like to call, the Raven Symone effect (Cosby Show, anyone?). There is cute and then there’s trying too hard. Bailee tries to hard and ends up unlikable by the story’s end. Sorry guys. I wasn’t buying her in any of her scenes.

Now I may not have approved of all the kids, but the adults in this movie were spot-on time and time again. Robert Patrick, who will never entirely escape the shadow of his performance in Terminator 2, plays Jesse’s father Jack Aarons in this film. I had the mixed-blessing of having seen Mr. Patrick in a truly awful piece of dribbly dreck entitled The Marine not two nights before seeing Terabithia in the theater. After that bit of folderol it was a relief to see that this fellow had to ability to give his character a decent amount of depth. One of the complaints the anti-Terabithia movie patron I encountered was that it seemed awful how Jesse’s father was so cruel to him. I didn’t see it that way. Obviously Mr. Aarons sees the world a certain way and he’s hard on his only son because life has been hard on him. I thought the casting of Zooey Deschanel, aside from fulfilling every schoolboy’s dream of having her as a teacher, was slightly inspired as well. We don’t really have an equivalent hippie actress in this day and age to play the part of Ms. Edmonds, but we do have some pretty down-to-earth women that have already proven they can sing well enough to pull of the old Music Teacher role. And Deschanel proved in the movie Elf that she had singing chops galore, so it’s nice to see her display them loud and proud. Finally, I don’t think enough credit’s gone to actress Jen Wolfe for her turn as teacher Mrs. Myers. Playing a hard-ass prof tends to be a fairly unforgiving role, but Ms. Wolfe imbues her character with such emotion that when she tells Jen about her dead husband you suddenly get a brief flash of a glimpse into her entire persona outside of school. Few actors do so much with full speeches, let alone the random sentence here and there.

I’ve also never seen a contemporary movie so steeped in 1970s imagery. As Terabithia was published in 1977, it wouldn’t have been inconceivable to set the film during that time period. As it stood, however, the fashions and kids were definitely Millennial, while the cinematography could only be called “classic”. It felt 70s, and I tried to pinpoint why. The beautiful tracking shots from overhead of sunlit fields… yeah, you don’t see much of that today. And maybe the school itself where the kids fight their mini battles is in desperate need of some updates in technology, but that’s true in a lot of places. Then it hit me. As far as I could tell, and with very few exceptions, the land of Terabithia wasn’t a set. These kids were constantly standing with real sunlight hitting their features and real pine needles beneath their feet. I’ve spent so much time watching children and fantasy films where everything takes place on a big old soundstage that I’d forgotten how wonderful pure unadulterated nature could be. Compare Terabithia’s woods to the forest in the first Harry Potter movie. There is simply no comparison. You believe that evil creatures might lurk in nature in one film, and in the other you wonder why anyone would act scared when surrounded by trees made of rubber. The CGI is what it is. You either like it or you don’t, but certainly the outdoor feeling of the film counters any artificiality that usually comes with prolific special effects.

So did I cry when Leslie died? Buckets. Not because Leslie was dead so much, though. I couldn’t really care less about her, but the people who cared for her were so interesting that seeing them hurt made me feel awful. This all goes back to what I was saying about actor Josh Hutcherson. There’s a moment between him and his father at the end where Jesse is blaming himself for Leslie’s death and speculating that since she wasn’t baptized maybe she’d go to hell. If you don’t choke up just a little when Robert Patrick says that he doesn’t believe that “God would send that little girl to Hell”, you are made of stone. STONE!

It won’t be for everyone, mind you. The announcement of Leslie’s sudden death is so out of the blue (and natural) that I actually heard small children gasping around me. But I’ve seen plenty of awful family dramas in my day and this is not one of them. I’d have tweaked something here and toyed with something else there, but for the most part I found this a strong collective effort. The parts that were added felt like a natural extension of the book. I definitely would have done away with the horrific pop songs that will date in approximately two years or less. There should be a law passed that forbids popular singers from getting their works embedded in otherwise perfectly good children’s movies. But all that aside, I do feel it’s worth your time and dolaros to give this flick a whirl. You’ll never find a movie that replicates the feel of a story in exactly the same way the original book did, but some come pretty darn close. The second best page to screen adaptation of a Newbery Award winning book there is.

I haven't gotten around to watching the new Bridge To Terabithia movie quite yet. Do you know how hard it is to justify seeing a children's film in a city where your average ticket price is $10.75? I've received some mixed reactions from people who have seen the film already too. One of my fellow Newbery committee members enjoyed it quite a lot. Ditto a girl who came in yesterday with an ash cross on her forehead. But then there was the patron who explained to me in minute detail just how much she didn't like the film. And the reviews have been mixed, to say the least. It's received a relatively high 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, though.

Who shall settle this debate? Well, yesterday Roger Sutton linked to a very nice review of the film via one Martha V. Parravano. It certainly gives you a look from all sides of the movie itself. I think I'll Netflix this one, if you don't mind.

Freedom to Read Poster 1991



Take the "Banned Book Challenge."







Thanks to the Tinfoil Racoon who posted about the Frank Zappa Memorial Fund and how the family has designated funds to the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom and the Freedom to Read Foundation.

Book Moot gives her opinion about the difference between a concerned parent and a book banning know nothing nutter (not my choice of words).

A Salt Lake City Review article about Bridge to Terabithia suggests that the movie might provide a teaching moment to talk to older children about death.

Teachers and child-development experts say while "Bridge to Terabithia" might be too much for young kids to handle, it could bring up a difficult subject families are often relucant to discuss, but should, with older kids

Take the Banned Book Challenge!

Freedom to Read Poster 1988







The NY Times reports that a Newbery-award winning book is facing widespread banning from school libraries because of one word.

Speaking of Newberys, Bridge to Terabithia opened this weekend. Read an interview about censorship with author Katherine Paterson.

The Daily Press & Argus reports that the Howell Board of Education voted 5-2 to allow teachers to assign The Freedom Writers Diary, Black Boy, and The Bluest Eye to advanced English classes. School Board member Wendy Day who voted for the ban states she has filed a form to ask for an official review of the Morrison book.

Update: The Conservative Media Blog reports that banners are still "howelling" in Howell, MI. The Daily Press and Argus reports that some parents are taking the battle to the courts, claiming that books on the curriculum break pornography laws. Stay tuned. It isn't over yet.

Librarian Kathryn Greenhill, the Australian blogger of Librarians Matter mulls over the pros and cons of having a book in a university library that tells one how to kill oneself.

For those of you still worried about how the filmed version of Bridge to Terabithia will turn out, I offer you solace in the form of a lovely article via the Burlington Free Press. In it, we learn the true story behind the book, the toll such events took, and the current situation with the upcoming film.

David Paterson, now 40 and living on Long Island, became a husband, father and a writer of plays and screenplays. It was in 1990 when he began writing a film script for "Bridge to Terabithia." It's taken him all these years to convince Hollywood studio executives to keep the essence of the novel intact.

It's a legitimate question. When the trailer for Terabithia came out people were a bit... shell-shocked I guess is the best word for it. Take a glance at it and you'd never know that the book was about two kids trying to escape the world around them by creating a fantasy land of their own. It looks far more in the vein of Narnia in the preview.

Well there was a showing of Terabithia at the recent Seattle Mid-Winter Conference and author Katherine Paterson was there, seeing it for the first time with a couple librarians. I did not go, so what I'm telling you now came to me via some of the librarians who attended. According to them, the movie is actually quite good. Apparently the fantasy elements are there to some extent, but they don't rule the film in the way that the preview implied. Ms. Paterson was, apparently, pleased with the final product and there was even a librarian present who spoke up and said that she had been on the Newbery committee that chose to give Terabithia the award proper back in 1978.

Until the reviews start to come out on February 16th, this is all I know so far. Still, I find it heartening. Walden may have its ups and downs, but when it's up it can be quite stirring. Aww... and it has Zooey Deschanel in it. You LOVE Zooey Deschanel, don't you? Of course you do. So here's hoping the book treads the same path as Heavenly Creatures (sans the matricide, of course).

Here is a web site dedicated to the book Bridge to Terabithia, a children's novel which has faced a number of challenges. The full text is available in HTML format, for use in educational settings.

The movie is due to be released in 2007. Visit Rotten Tomatoes to find reviews and more about the movie.

Update: The Lizard Queen has done quite a good analysis of the reasons this book has been challenged.