‘We need a place,’ she said, ‘just for us. It would be so secret that we would never tell anyone in the whole world about it.’

It was the new girl, Leslie, who invented Terabithia – a secret country in the woods beyond the dry creek bed. Here Jess is a king – strong, unafraid, unbeatable – so that when something dreadful happens – more dreadful than Jess could ever have imagined – he is able to face grief and disaster, and even save his kingdom for the future.