Just finished Bridge to Teribithia!

Ok, so I recently finished the book Bridge To Teribithia, and not for my rereading project, since that was on Freak The Mighty, I just read this book for fun because I thought it would be a good from what I've heard, and it definitely is good! It was pretty short though, since I finished it in around 2-3 days. I think this book definitely defines the meaning of friendship. Leslie and Jess are definitely best friends, although pretty much all the characters in the book judge them and assume they are in a romantic relationship, which they are not in. But I have always wondered why Leslie just decided to be friends with Jess at first, when she didn't even know him. One day she and her family just moves into town and Leslie just instantly decides to befriend Jess. Did she just have a crush on him? Is it because he just happened to be her neighbor and if any other kid was her neighbor she'd try to befriend them instead? Yep, after finishing that book, an answer hasn't really come up to me on that question. But what really amazed me is how imaginative Leslie is, coming up with the whole teribithia thing,  with the castle stronghold and the king and queen and having to swing across the river to get in and stuff.


          ***SPOILER ALERT***


But it really broke my heart to have Leslie die in the end by drowning in the river. Her death was the last thing I expected, I really expected it to end with happiness and have their minor kid problems solved. The way Jess handled it was pretty weird, too. I mean, I never experienced death of a loved one or a best friend, but the way he handled it was definitely different from most books/TV shows/movies. He handled it like nothing serious really happened, and one of the things he said near the end of the book is how he's the fastest runner in the school now (since before Leslie was the fastest). But overall, it was a great book.