Bridge to Terabithia

In Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, Leslie drowns in the creek in the woods. Jess, Leslie's best friend, decides to spend the day in Washington, DC with one of his teachers. He comes...

Jess Aarons, the protagonist of the story, met Leslie Burke. Her fire and her imagination challenged Jess to look beyond the small existence that had been defined for him by his family and their...

Jessie is the middle child and the only boy in his family, "smashed between four sisters...the older two had despised (him) ever since (he) stopped letting them dress (him) up and wheel (him)...

Point: Jesse and his father do not have much of a relationship, but the relationship that they do have is not terrible. I don't want to make it seem like the relationship is dangerous,...

Jesse's family and life are very different from those of his friend, Leslie. Jesse comes from a poor family. He is one of five children, and, whether due to age or gender, much more is expected of...

I'm going to start this answer with a short anecdote from my own life. When I was in high school, I had two friends suffer tragic accidents. Nobody died, but one friend got hit by a drunk driver...

There are several important events in Bridge to Terabithia. Jess Aarons and Leslie Burke meet and become friends. They build a fantasyland across the creek in the woods that they call Terabithia,...

Jess gets up early every morning to run. He wants to be the fastest boy in the 5th grade. New neighbors move into the old Perkins farmhouse next door. Jess meets Leslie and thinks her clothes make...

Christmas at Jess' house is chaotic, as everything else there seems to be. Ellie and Brenda both have boyfriends this year, and there is much haggling in the house over finding the money to buy...

Terabithia is the magic land that Leslie and Jess create in the woods, a few yards from the dry creek bed that separates the farmland from the forest near their rural homes. The children, who are...

In Katherine Paterson's novel, Bridge to Terabithia, I think there are several conflicts, some of which do not become as important until the later part of the story. However, the conflict that...

To her great surprise, Leslie finds Janice Avery, the well-known bully, crying in the bathroom. Janice's father beats her, and when Janice finally confided this sad truth in her friends Wilma and...

Jess and Leslie's first encounter with Janice Avery is on the school bus, where she bullies Jess and Leslie into giving up their seats. Jess says he's not scared of the “cow” but isn't able to...

It is possible that there are multiple pronunciations of the word "Terabithia"; however, I have only ever heard it pronounced one way. The "ter" section of the word pronounces the vowel in a way...

Jess is at his wits end trying to figure out what to give Leslie, and he is very hampered by the fact that he has next to zero money to buy any kind of present for her. Jess eventually lucks out...

Jess likes to draw "animals, mostly". The animals he draws are generally not realistic, "not regular animals like Miss Bessie or the chickens, but crazy animals with problems - for some reason he...

This is a great question, because the text offers a few possibilities that explain why Jess doesn't invite Leslie to go along with Miss Edmunds. I think one reason is simple, polite etiquette....

This line is spoken by the character Leslie in the movie based on the novel Bridge to Terabithia, but it's not actually in the book. When a book gets adapted into a movie, writers often make a lot...

In Bridge to Terabithia, the Burkes and the Aarons experience different economic class statuses and family dynamics. The Aarons's parents are burdened with economic insecurity. They struggle to...

When Leslie and her dad first start working on renovations to their house, Jesse feels awkward and uncomfortable around Bill (Leslie's dad, otherwise known as Mr. Burke) and even feels a kind of...

For Jess and Leslie, Terabithia is a secret and magical place where they can express their dreams and expose their inner pain. It is a place where they can achieve their own hearts' desires without...

Jess's father reacted angrily when his son told him that he wanted to be an artist. Jess had only been in the first grade and "he had told his dad that he wanted to be an artist when he grew up"....

In the book Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, Leslie Burke is different from the other students except perhaps, Jess, who becomes her friend. She is a transfer student from a city school...

The answer to this question can be found in the final paragraph of chapter seven. Sometimes it seemed to him that his life was delicate as a dandelion. One little puff from any direction, and it...

As Chapter 1 begins, we learn that Jesse likes to dress in overalls without a shirt underneath when he's going running, so we know he dresses a little on the nerdy side, but that's probably just...

The scene you're asking about takes places in the last chapter on Jesse's first day back to school after the terrible tragedy. After Mrs. Meyers leads the class in the pledge and gets them settled...

Jesse and Lesley are both outcasts at school—Jesse because he is an artist, which is seen as a feminine pursuit, and Lesley because she is the new girl who dresses strangely and outran all the boys...

Jess and Leslie are both a little bit of social outcasts. It's not that people openly despise Jess or Leslie, but people view them as odd. For example, Jess isn't the stereotypical "jock,"...

Leslie hears Janice Avery crying in the bathroom. Janice Avery is a seventh grader who is described earlier in the book as being "the one person who devoted her entire life to scaring the wits out...

While Leslie is excited to work on fixing up the house, Jess resents it at first when he is not included. Later, he comes to enjoy the process when Leslie tells him to join her and Bill. Leslie's...

Let us remind ourselves that foreshadowing can be defined as hints or clues that the writer gives us about what will happen later on in the novel, that often we only pick up on once we have...

Jess was afraid to show his drawings to his dad, because his dad did not approve of his hobby. As we learn in chapter 2: He would like to show his drawings to his dad, but he didn't dare. When he...

In this novel, Jess feels like he has to be the fastest runner for two main reasons: to make his father proud and to make a name for himself at school. At the beginning of the story, we learn that...

When Jess goes to Terabithia alone for the first time after Leslie's death, he finds that the creek has fallen well below the level at which it had been the last time he saw it. The rope he and...

Many things frighten Jess about going to Terabithia in the unrelenting rain. The creek which he and Leslie are used to crossing by swinging on an old rope tied to an apple tree is "a roaring...

Chapter 7 of Bridge to Terabithia introduces the reader to the most important rule at Lark Creek Elementary—family came first and family did not get discussed at school. There was a rule at Lark...

When Janice Avery, the school bully takes Mae Bells “Twinkies” she wants Jessie to do something. He and Leslie write a love note to Janice and sign the name Willard Hughes, the boy every girl in...

I believe that this question is asking about events that are narrated to us in chapter seven. The start of chapter 7 has the narrator explaining to readers that Jess finds it odd that Leslie enjoys...

May Belle comes to the bean patch to tell Jess that people are moving into "the old Perkins place down on the next farm." In Jess' opinion, the Perkins place is "one of those ratty old country...

Quite a few people help Jess to cope with the death of Leslie. I think the person that has the biggest part is his father. Throughout the novel, it's clear that Jess's dad isn't the most tender,...

The answer to this question can be found at the end of chapter 1. Jess is picking beans when May Belle comes to him and tells him that there are some new people "moving into the Old Perkins place."...

Clearly there are a number of things that unite Jess and Leslie in this excellent short story. One of the key elements is the way that they are both "outsiders" in the school community. Jess is an...

A key piece of information to remember is that Terabithia is a place of escape for both Leslie and Jess. It is a physical place to escape to, and it is a place for mental and emotional escapism....

The most important lesson that Jess learns is that he is not alone. As a middle child and the only boy, Jess has always been isolated from his family. The same is true at school - the other kids...

Jesse absolutely refuses to let Gary Fulcher see his drawing. When Gary asks to see Jesse's drawing, Jesse covers it with his arm to block the other boy from seeing it. Gary persists, however; he...

Jess loves May Belle dearly and feels a strong sense of connection to her. As her big brother (in fact, her only brother) he is eager to protect May Belle, and although he sometimes feels annoyed...

Although both families live in the same poor rural town and are neighbors, the first four chapters of the story reveal vast differences between Jesse's and Leslie's families. Let's consider those...

I think that Jess doesn't have a great big group of friends for the same reason that he and his father are not super close. Jess isn't extremely interested in the things that most other boys his...

Leslie creates a diversion to help Jess avoid getting caught by Mrs. Pierce. She calls out to the seventh grade teacher, who is approaching the fifth grade room where Jess is not supposed to be,...

I would say that the rising action point of the novel is chapter 10. This is where Jesse thinks about his new found abilities to believe in himself. It is also where he enjoys the guilty pleasure...