A child’s imagination isn’t always a world of sweetness and light that we adults sometimes like to think it is. They know that the world holds loss, darkness and pain, and they use their fantasies to try and make sense of these terrible facts that serve as the fire-breathing monsters of the adult world. Even better than adults, they know that sometimes the brave knight gets eaten.
Imagination and lost twine together in the classic story “Bridge to Terabithia,” which is coming to Salt Lake’s The Children’s Theatre Feb. 10, 11, 17 and 18 (the production will be held at the theater’s 237 S. State St. location; tickets are available online). The story centers around Jess, a fifth-grader who is having a difficult time with his family and life until he meets Leslie. She introduces him to Terabithia, the magical world she invented, and even when tragedy comes both the world and their friendship helps Jess tap into some of that magic for himself.
“Leslie was more than his friend,” reads one passage in the book. “She was his other, more exciting self – his way to Terabithia and all the worlds beyond.”
The book, which author Katherine Paterson said was drawn from real-life inspiration, managed to both win the Newberry Medal in 1978 and land on the American Library Association’s list of 100 most frequently challenged books from 1990 to 2000. Disney turned “Bridge to Terabithia” into a movie in 2007.
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