** spoiler alert ** Of course I read this as a kid, but the only thing that stayed with me was Terabithia; the entire mundane plot (that is, 95% of the book) entirely vanished from my memory.

The class elements went right over my head as a kid, which is strange because they're so important to the book. Also, I often find now that when I read children's books, things seem unrealistically harsh to me -- but they didn't seem that way to me when I was the target age. Apparently I've forgotten a lot about being a kid.

One thing I haven't forgotten is how much strategy is required to be a kid, and this book captures that wonderfully. Jess is forever managing people -- to avoid getting beaten up by other kids, to avoid being punished by parents and teachers, to carve out a little time and privacy.

My chief problem with this book is that Jess actually is indirectly responsible for Leslie's death, and that's too heavy a responsibility to put on a kid. It's like writing a story in which the monster under the bed is a real monster.