I've been reading Bridge to Terabithia to my class. It is a Newbery winner from the 80's, I think, and it is wonderful. Katherine Paterson is a spectacular author! Reading aloud is tough if the prose sucks, but if it's delicious prose then it is a joy.
This is delicious prose. Go read the book. Or read it again. And read it slowly. Being a fast reader I skim a lot of the lovely prose. I just speed by it. But this book just keeps amazing me...it's so good! There is so much going on in each chapter...there is the storyline which is starting to build up. I know what happens and I can hardly wait till the kids get there. The buildup is great, really really well done. And then there is the alliteration and rhythm and sound of the words. And then, with that going on, Paterson is just good at making the setting clear: this is such a hick town that the kid lives in, I can hardly stand it. The characterization of the setting is so subtle and pretty and ... sigh.
(In Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Aslan calls himself the Great Bridge Builder, talking about who he is in England. In Bridge to Terabithia the boy is stranded in this disgusting redneck town and needs help. Here comes a friend to build him a bridge and reach him how to have the bridge with him when he needs it...and how to be a bridge builder for others. In Prelude and The Severed Wasp, L'Engle talks about artists being window cleaners, so that each person can see out of their dirty and clogged lives into others'.
(That is what I want to do...be a bridge builder...be a window cleaner...be a co-redeemer with Christ. I am not an artist but I am a teacher, and that is art, and so I can be a bridge builder and a window cleaner.)
I'm just not a poet, people. I love this book more as I read it aloud but I can't do any better than that at describing it.
Here's LeVar for you: "Don't take my word for it!"
Posted by at September 5, 2003 05:40 PM | TrackBack