The summary must include:

The setting, the characters and the main idea of the story. The student will also include a short opinion about the story. A
picture of their favorite scene. Please help the children with this assignment. Thank you for your support.

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA
Character List
Jesse Oliver Aarons, Jr. - The main character and protagonist of the novel. Jess is a fifth-grader
living in a rural Southern area. He is lonely and lost in the middle of a family of four girls when Leslie
Burke moves in next door. Leslie and Jess become best friends, and the novel centers on their
friendship. Jess is a budding artist whose talent receives little praise from anyone except Leslie and
Miss Edmunds. Yet he is quite talented, as well as intelligent, caring, and down- to-earth. A
thoroughly likable character, we are quickly drawn into his world and his personal tribulations.

Leslie Burke - Jess's new next-door neighbor and best friend. Highly intelligent and imaginative, it
is her idea to build a fantasyland named Terabithia across the creek. Leslie's family is affluent and
well educated, in stark contrast with the rest of the residents in the area, and has an entirely different
slant on life than any of the neighbors. All this influences Leslie as well and helps to develop her
uniqueness and distinct flair.
Mrs. Aarons - Jess's mother. Mrs. Aarons is tired and careworn with the stresses of trying to
support a family of seven on a poor family's income. She always seems to be hounding Jess to do
chores or milk the cow, but her shortness of temper is merely a result of overwork. After Leslie's
death, she shows herself to be a caring mother torn apart by her son's pain. Nevertheless, under
normal circumstances she does not help to make Jess's home life inviting or comfortable.

Mr. Aarons - Jess's father. Mr. Aarons is likewise harried by the concerns of being the sole
breadwinner for a large family. He rarely has time for Jess, which is hard on the boy. He wants to do
the right thing by his son, but he isn't quite sure how; the irony is that all he would really need to do
would be to sit down with Jess, ruffle his hair, and talk with him about his day, but he doesn't seem
to understand this. He expects Jess to be a "man," a source of considerable heartache and soul-
searching on the part of Jess, whose passions lie elsewhere than playing football and driving big
trucks. However, he is concerned with his son's welfare and wants nothing but the best for him, as is
evidenced in his treatment of Jess after Leslie's death.

Ellie - Jess's oldest sister. Her age is never given directly, but we can guess that she's about fifteen
or sixteen. Ellie is thoroughly spoiled, much like Brenda, the difference between them is that Ellie
has mastered the art of sycophancy, and consequently leaves a much better taste in most people's
mouths. Vain, conceited, and shallow, Ellie continually annoys Jess.
Brenda - Jess's second-oldest sister. We can surmise that she is around fourteen. Brenda is even
more annoying than Ellie. She shares Ellie's vanity and shallowness, but she whines continually and
has no sense of when to stop before pushing people too far. She harries Jess continually, and is
primly content with her own little world of makeup, scanty clothing, and romantic interests. Even after
Leslie's death, Brenda will not stop harassing Jess. She is wholly immature and self-absorbed.

May Belle Aarons - Jess's little sister. May Belle is closer to him than any other member of their
family. She is six and a bit lost, and she is without close friends or siblings close enough in age to
play with. She often tries to push herself in with Jess and Leslie, which they do not like, but all the
same Jess feels bad for her. At the end of the novel, it is she who allows Terabithia to live on, as she
becomes its new queen.

Joyce Ann - Jess's youngest sister, at four years old. Joyce Ann is not developed very much as a
character. She is often portrayed as whiny, but she is only four. Jess does not share the same bond
with her that he does with May Belle, but he seems to feel a certain warmth toward her, as is
evidenced by the end of the book, when he suggests that in time, Joyce Ann may join May Belle in
Terabithia as a princess.

Miss Edmunds - The music teacher at the school. Jess is deeply in puppy love with her. She
seems a creature from another world to him, a beautiful woman with a beautiful look and a smile for
all the students, but especially Jess. She encourages his artistic talent, one of the two people in the
world, including Leslie, who does, and seems to care about him in a special way. She is somewhat
of a hippie, which only deepens her allure for Jess, because it confirms her individuality and
separation from the narrow world of Lark Creek. Kind and caring, it is no mystery why Jess adores
her, as she seems to fill a void of affection and compassion that he does not get from his family.

Mr. Burke - Leslie's father. He is a political writer who is extremely gifted intellectually but rather
scatterbrained. Leslie's growing friendship with Bill disturbs Jess until Leslie invites him to spend
time with them as well.

Mrs. Burke - Leslie's mother. Judy writes novels and seems to spend most of her time closed in
her room with her typewriter going. Not that she neglects Leslie, but she just seems busier than Mr.
Burke. All in all, Leslie's parents lavish on her the love and attention that is not demonstrated clearly
in Jess's house.

Janice Avery - A seventh-grader who is the school bully. Janice terrorizes May Belle, as well as the
rest of the younger kids, until Jess and Leslie find a way of getting back at her. However, Janice is
not an ultimate demon; she has her own problems that lend her an aspect of sympathy. Her father
abuses her, and when her friends blab her secrets to the entire school, her tough-girl persona snaps.
It is Leslie who comforts her, at Jess's urging, forming an unlikely friendship between them

Plot Overview
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Jess Aarons is an eleven-year-old boy living in a rural area of the South who loves to run. He dreams of being
the fastest boy in the fifth grade when school starts up in the fall, feeling that this will for once give him a
chance to stand in the spotlight among his five sisters, and might win him the attention of his preoccupied
father. Jess is quite insecure in his identity. He loves to paint and draw, but he knows very well that this labels
him a "sissy" in the eyes of most of the world, particularly his father. In addition, his family is stretched so
tight by poverty that he has little chance to really explore his own identity during this crucial period of
adolescence. He has therefore built up the importance of winning in his mind, feeling that here, at least, is
something that he is good at which won't win him an undesired label of "sissy" or "girl" in the eyes of his
father or schoolmates, and which will allow him to shine in his own right. He practices each morning, always
dreaming of his upcoming victory. However, when the races come around at recess, a new girl, Leslie Burke,
who just moved next door to Jess, boldly crosses to the boys' side of the playground and beats everyone.

A rather unpromising beginning, but Jess and Leslie become fast friends. They build a secret fantasyland
across the creek in the woods, called Terabithia, where they play all the time. There they forget the rest of the
world, such as the kids at school or Jess's less-than-satisfactory family. The time they spend in Terabithia, in
fact, seems to strengthen them for these trials of everyday life: it is there that they map out a plan of revenge on
the school bully when she steals May Belle's Twinkies, and it is there that they discuss Jess's feelings of
insecurity when Leslie begins to draw closer to her father. Leslie also introduces Jess to the world of
imagination and creativity, telling him the stories of such classics of literature as Moby Dick and Hamlet . All
this also strengthens Jess's artistic talent and ability, as Leslie supports his ambition and, through the stories
she tells, provides him with great subject matter. But much of the time they play wonderful games of their own
invention—defeating intruders on Terabithian territory, praying to the Spirits of the Grove to end a long spell
of rain, and numerous other fantasies.

However, Jess and Leslie's friendship, though centered in Terabithia, is not limited to Terabithia. They see
each other at school, where they take a good deal of ribbing for their cross-gender friendship, but by now that
sort of teasing has lost the power to hurt Jess, and Leslie has never been particularly bothered by what others
think. At home, they celebrate holidays together, such as Christmas, when Jess gives Leslie a puppy and she
gives him an expensive art set to develop his artistic talent, and Easter, when Leslie goes to church for the first
time with Jess. Leslie is impressed by the beauty of the story of Christ. Jess and his little sister May Belle,
cowed by negative and unforgiving religious training, are convinced that nonbelievers such as Leslie are
doomed to hell, and find the whole experience disturbing. Nevertheless, Jess and Leslie remain the best of
friends, and Jess finds a purpose in his life through Leslie's company that he's never had before.

One day the music teacher at school, Miss Edmunds, whom Jess has long had a crush on, invites him to spend
a day with her touring the art galleries in Washington. This trip does much to expand his mind and make him
feel as if he is special, a feeling he has previously only had in Leslie's company. Jess has a perfect day, but
when he gets home he is told that Leslie drowned in the creek that morning trying to swing into Terabithia on
the rope that they used for that purpose. Jess is completely devastated and goes through the stages of grief—
denial, anger, fear, and sorrow—all incredibly painful to suffer and, indeed, to read about. Initially, he does not
see how he is to go on initially. Leslie has raised him to new heights as the king of Terabithia, and now he
feels that without her, he has no choice but to revert to the old Jess, plagued by fear and insecurity. However,
eventually he realizes that he can only keep Leslie's memory, and his own newfound sense of self, alive by
continuing the fantasy of Terabithia. He brings his little sister May Belle there and makes her its new queen,
assuring that a part of Leslie will live on as well.

SPARKNOTES.COM

Analysis: Setting
Where It All Goes Down
Lark Creek and Terabithia in the 1970s
The characters all live in a small town called Lark Creek and, except for when Jess goes to Washington, D.C.,
with Miss Edmunds, all the action takes place there. Lark Creek is a small, almost backward town in Virginia
where people are slow to accept change and frown on difference (see "Character Analysis: Miss Edmunds" for
more on this). They don't like hippies or girls who wear pants. People live on farms, work hard, and struggle.
They don't have many resources and people, even children, are supposed to make do with the little they've got.

In a way, that's how Terabithia is – Leslie and Jess making do with what they've got. They've got a rope swing,
a creek, a patch of forest, and a grove, which we know doesn't sound like much. But gosh, they do have
something worth so much more than what the other characters in the book possess – real, exciting imagination,
imagination so powerful that it almost seems like magic. Magic turns the creek into a boundary between
realms, the grove into a sacred place, a puppy into a prince, and two fifth graders into a king and queen. We
don't see that much of Terabithia, but we know it's a setting for court ceremonies, battles, and imaginative
progress. And it's part of Lark Creek. Jess tells us that ideas and morals from Terabithia bleed over into regular
life in Lark Creek and, by the end of the book, we see him formalize the connections between the two regions,
physically linking them by building a bridge. (For more on this, see "What's Up With the Title?" and "What's
Up With the Ending?")

MAIN IDEA
Jess and Leslie's friendship is the central theme of Bridge to Terabithia. Their friendship is
delightful on a simple level, their childish exploits fraught with amusement and joy

Themes
Friendship
Jess and Leslie's friendship is the central theme of Bridge to Terabithia. Their friendship is delightful on a
simple level, their childish exploits fraught with amusement and joy. However, we cannot simply call Bridge
to Terabithia a monument to the carefree pleasures of childhood, because that would miss one of the main
points of the story. The reason that Jess and Leslie's friendship is so magical is because it allows them to
rejoice in childhood and to escape the rest of the pressures that bear down on them so heavily in the rest of
their lives. Jess, in particular, leads a life full of everyday hardship and dissatisfaction. We sense that before
Leslie came along, he was in danger of sinking under the weight of these combined pressures and reluctantly
accepting conformity.

This is the essential beauty of their friendship: it allows both Leslie and Jess, particularly Jess, to find their true
selves. This seems to be Paterson's central point about friendship—that it allows friends to expand, to explore
new dimensions of one's character as a result of the other person's pushing one in new directions. For example,
Jess's artistic abilities are strengthened by Leslie's imagination, which provides perfect fodder for new and
innovative artwork, and Leslie's strength and courage are tested and developed when Jess encourages her to
help Janice Avery. Jess discovers in himself an aptitude for invention and creativity; Leslie uncovers a desire
for spirituality when Jess brings her to church. Rather counterintuitively, Paterson suggests that individuality is
difficult to find on one's own, because then one has no aid in combating societal and other external pressures
and forces which would attempt to destroy one's individuality. Rather, in a friendship, one discovers new
aspects of oneself and helps the other person to discover new aspects of him/herself as well. This is particularly
important in an adolescent friendship such as the one described in Bridge to Terabithia, because those are the
formative years, when much of one's adult character is determined. A friendship such as Jess and Leslie share
allows the two to become comfortable with themselves, to discover who they really are without worries that
what they find will not fit into the "proper" mold. Ultimately, each member of such a friendship is
strengthened and developed by the friendship
Terabithia
Terabithia is a symbol of idealized childhood, of a perfect world in which children can rule supreme without
the heavy responsibilities of adulthood. No bad thing can touch the rulers of Terabithia—no matter what the
obstacle, they will always emerge victorious. The place provides a much-needed refuge for Leslie and Jess.
However, Terabithia is not an absolute sanctuary, as is proven upon Leslie's death. She drowns in the creek,
the border between the perfect world of Terabithia and the harder world of reality. The novel suggests that
Leslie is frozen forever on the boundary between childhood and adulthood, symbolized by the creek itself. By
the end of the novel, Jess comes to understand that the enchantment of Terabithia is meant to last for a season
only, and—not that he must move on, necessarily—but that he must not depend on Terabithia as an escape
anymore, but instead start tackling life's problems head-on. By the end of the novel, Jess is a man, though not
exactly in the sense that his father has hoped for all these years. Rather, he has managed to strike a balance
between retaining the best parts of childhood and attaining a new maturity.

The rope over the creek and the bridge to Terabithia

When they originated the idea of Terabithia, Leslie decreed that the rope swinging over the creek would be a
magic rope, the only entrance to the magical land. Jess accepted this decree wholeheartedly, and always felt
that Terabithia was not really Terabithia unless one entered by the prescribed method. When the rope snaps, it
seems to be a symbol stating that the magic is at an end. The breaking of the rope seems to cement the fate of
Terabithia, which really died with the death of its queen.

However, Jess eventually comes to realize that the magic is in him as much as it was in Leslie, and he has the
power to resurrect Terabithia. It will be different, completely different, but its soul will remain the same. Jess
himself has broken some ties with Terabithia in his newfound maturity. However, May Belle is still a child,
and deserves the enchanted childhood only available to her in Terabithia. In building the bridge to Terabithia,
Jess affirms that the beauty, wonder, and magic that were so much a part of Leslie did not disappear when she
died. Instead, he perpetuates that magic, and in a form more solid and lasting than the rope. Jess's days of
absolute, carefree, childish happiness in Terabithia are over, but he passes Leslie's legacy on by building the
bridge to Terabithia