He's been practicing his sprints all summer, determined to become the fastest runner at school.

Jess Aarons is eager to start fifth grade. The Cromwell school board meets August 27.Paterson's Newbery-winning novel becomes an entertaining and dramatic audiobook via Leonard's accomplished reading.

We believe this material is satanic, a danger to our children, is being studied excessively and has no place in our schools.'Īs of yet, school officials have made no decision regarding the two books and are reviewing the residents' petition, the Courant reported.

The children build an imaginary kingdom, and there was the feeling that I was promoting the religion of secular humanism, and then New Age religion.' Paterson thinks the latter complaints are ironic since her parents were Christian missionaries, and she is married to a Presbyterian minister.Īccording to the Hartford Courant, Flanagan's and Eigner's petition urges the school board to ' eliminate the study of materials containing information about witchcraft, magic, evil spells, or related material, now and forever. Though Bridge to Terabithia has been banned many times in the past (it is ninth on the American Library Association's list of 100 books most commonly banned from schools between the years 1990 - 2000, in this particular case, author Katherine Paterson does not know why residents Bridget Flanagan and Andrea Eigner want the book removed, she told BTW.Īs for why the book has been banned in the past, Paterson explained, 'Initially, it was challenged because it deals with a boy who lives in rural Virginia, and he uses the word 'Lord' a lot, and it's not in prayer. Together, the two create an imaginary kingdom named Terabithia in the woods, where they rule as king and queen, and where the only limit is their imaginations. Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia is the story of the friendship between two fifth-graders, a boy and a girl, Jess Aarons and Leslie Burke. She befriends an old Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond and, as a result, is accused of witchcraft. There, in a stern Puritan community, Kit feels like a caged bird. Speare's The Witch of Blackbird Pond is set in 1687 and tells the story of a young girl, Kit, who is forced to leave the Caribbean for a colony in Connecticut. The pair allege that the books, The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare and Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, promote witchcraft and violence and have filed a petition asking school officials to remove them, as reported by the Hartford Courant.

In Cromwell, Connecticut, two residents want a pair of Newbery Medal-winning novels removed from the Cromwell middle school's curriculum.

Bridge to terabithia novel