Bridge to Terabithia

Title: Bridge to Terabithia
Author: Katherine Paterson
ISBN: 0064401847


Plot Summary: Jesse Oliver Aarons, Jr. is the lone boy in a family of girls, growing up in a small, rural Virginia community where change happens more slowly than elsewhere. Into this drab and predictable world comes Leslie Burke, a girl who doesn't dress, eat, walk, talk, act, or think like any of the others Jess knows. Intrigued by Leslie's free-spirited and nonconformist attitude, the two quickly become friends, ignoring the teasing of Jess's sisters and peers as they retreat together into Terabithia, a magical world of their own creation. But when tragedy strikes, shattering the mythical land they have created together, Jess must draw on the strength that knowing Leslie has given him in order to carry on.

Jacob Have I Loved

Title: Jacob Have I Loved
Author: Katherine Paterson
ISBN: 0064403688

Plot Summary: Louise Bradshaw is a young woman growing up in the Chesapeake Bay area during the Second World War. Her twin sister, Caroline, has always been her parents' favorite: prettier, more talented, and initially in poorer health after their birth, which has garnered her far more attention throughout her life. Caroline, although never intentionally cruel to her sister, takes from Louise everything she wants in life. When Louise gets the opportunity to leave her small community and build her own future, a large part of this will be learning how to develop her own identity, separate from that of her sister.