Not only is [Bridge to Terabithia] … unusual because it portrays a believable relationship between a boy and a girl at an age when same-sex friendships are the norm but it also presents an unromantic, realistic, and moving reaction to personal tragedy. Jess and Leslie are so effectively developed as characters that young readers might well feel that they were their classmates. (p. 61)

Jack Forman, in School Library Journal (reprinted from the November, 1977 issue of School Library Journal, published by R. R. Bowker Co. A Xerox Corporation; copyright © 1978), November, 1977.