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In some ways, your book is more explicitly Christian than Lewis's Narnia tales, because it incorporates the Easter story.

I'm not going to argue that, because I am a Christian. But I have certainly not tried to write a Christian pamphlet.

When the children play in Terabithia, they pray to "the spirits" there. As a Christian writing those scenes, how did you approach that?

Leslie, who has no Christian background, has made this up; she thinks there is something very mystical in the grove, so she prays to the spirits of the grove. When she tries to get Jess to do this, the only language he knows is biblical language. He's read the Bible, so his language comes out like biblical language. But again, it's coming from the children's point of view, not from the point of view of me trying to [spell out] my religion.

Do you think this movie might stifle imagination, or replace it, or perhaps be a stimulus to imagination in some other way?

I hope it will stimulate the imagination of viewers. I'm not sure that a movie can ever do that as well as a book, simply because you have a big picture right there in front of you that you're not allowed to make for yourself.

Terabithia and Gilly Hopkins were on the American Library Association's list of most frequently challenged books of the 1990s.

People say, "Aren't you proud?" and I say no, because it means some teacher or librarian is in trouble because of me, and I can't enjoy that. But the sad thing is, I think it's because people don't understand what a story is.

What is a story?

A story is open-ended. A story invites you into it to make your own meaning. If you look at Jesus' parables, most of the stories he told were very open-ended.

I mean, even with the Parable of the Prodigal Son, you get to the ending and you think, Well, did the big brother come in or not? Jesus left it open deliberately for you to answer.

That's what a story does. It's inviting you to identify yourself as a part of it and to come into it from where you are—and if you hear the same story after a period of years, you'll be in a different place, and the meaning is going to be different.

There's a trend lately to provide books and films for Christian audiences that are "safe for the whole family." Perhaps your books have been challenged because they're not necessarily "safe" for children.

Well, don't give them the Bible, because it's certainly not a safe book. Safety and faith are different things. If you want everything to be safe, then you can do without imagination. If you're so afraid of your imagination that you stifle it, how are you going to know God? How can you imagine heaven?

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

CT Movies reviewed Bridge to Terabithia, which opens February 16.

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March 2007, Vol. 51, No. 3