If Jess’s painful growth after Leslie’s death—his first crush on Ms. Edmunds, his guilt over the trip to the museum, and the way he finally builds a bridge for May Belle—moved you, you’ll feel the same pull in Walk Two Moons. Salamanca’s road trip to find her mother mirrors the way Jess faces loss, and her gradual understanding of love, memory, and forgiveness delivers that same tender, hard-won maturity.

If you loved how Jess and Leslie’s bond turns a shy, isolated boy into someone braver—racing to Terabithia, sharing secrets, and learning to see the world in color—then Because of Winn-Dixie will hit the same chord. Opal’s friendship with a stray dog helps her reach across town to unlikely friends, much like Leslie helps Jess open his heart beyond the creek and the rope swing.

If the small, closely held world of Bridge to Terabithia—the woods, the creek, the hut crowned by a rope—drew you in, Skellig offers that same intimate hush. Michael discovers a mysterious figure in his garage and, like Jess slipping away to Terabithia, he and Mina nurture a secret refuge that changes how they see themselves and the people they love.

If the emotional gut-punch of Leslie’s death—and Jess’s aching path toward acceptance, from denial to finally sharing Terabithia with May Belle—stayed with you, A Monster Calls channels that same honest, cathartic release. Conor’s nightly visits from the yew-tree monster push him to face the truth he’s been avoiding, much like Jess facing the empty rope and deciding to build the bridge.

If you appreciated how Bridge to Terabithia lets you live inside Jess’s head—his art, his jealousy, his shame, and his need to make sense of the creek and the storm—The Thing About Jellyfish offers a similar, searching interiority. After her friend’s accidental death, Suzy’s scientific obsession becomes her way to ask the questions Jess wrestles with: Why did this happen, and how do I carry it?