Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. (Children's Literature Novel)

Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia. Illustrated by Donna Diamond. Scholastic Inc., 1977. (128 pages) 

This book is a tear-jerker, and very memorable for anyone who read it as a child. Paterson does a great job developing the characters in this realistic fiction based in a rural community close to a wild woods where the two main characters run off and imagine up an entire world for themselves - Terabithia. I will just admit right now that when I read the last page I totally cried even though I have read it before and seen the movie. It's not the sadly surprising events of the story that made me tear up, but the relationship between one of the main characters and his younger sister - and how it evolves after serious hardships (I won't spoil the book for those who haven't read it).