Bridge to Terabithia (1977) (edit title/settings)

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Characters edit see section history

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• Jess Oliver Aarons Jr.: Squashed in the middle of a family made up of sisters, Jess Aarons is in his own world. But then suddenly he gets pulled back into reality and boredom... until he meets Leslie Burke. An incredibly good artist, loves to draw and paint, and is constantly thinking of new ways to create art. He believes he doesn't have a lot of creativity, but is proven wrong, when he helps Leslie spin a tale and eventually, a kingdom out of their heads.
• Leslie Burke: Leslie is "an extraordinary student" teachers would say. On the first day of school she, the new kid, creamed all of the boys in the running race, and admitted to not having a television. From then on all the kids entitled her as weird. No one was friends with her, no one but Jesse Aarons. She has an extraordinarily large imagination, making up stories and ideas, and new worlds to explore. She loves to spread hope, and happiness. She's best friends with Jess, and she loves her dog, P.T, short for Prince Terrien.
• May Belle Aarons: Jess' little sister, idolizes Jess.
• Prince Terrien: P.T. is short for Prince Terrien. He is Leslie's dog, given to her by Jess for her birthday.
• Janice Avery: older bully from school
• Mr. Aarons: Add a description of this character.
• Mr. Burke: A caring and creative father to Leslie Burke. Leslie and Mr. Burke tell stories and listen to music and have a unique relationship.
• Brenda Aarons: Jess' older sister
• Ellie Aarons: Jess' older sister
• Julia Edmunds: Every Friday all the kids look forward to hearing the strum of guitar chords, the beautiful hum of Miss Edmunds. Jess is secretly in love with the beautiful Miss Edmunds, her mesmerizing voice enchants Jess as she sings and claps her hands for the other kids to join in. She is one of the nicest teachers, and encourages the students to be themselves, and follow their dreams. She loves Jess's drawings, and thinks he's a fantastic artist.
• Willard Hughes: A seventh grade boy, that Janice Avery has a crush on.
• Mrs. Pierce
• Bobby Sue Henshaw
• Wayne Pettis
• Mrs. Myers: Jess' teacher
• Billy Joe Weems
• Billy Morris
• Wilma Dean: 7th grader, friend of Janice Avery's.
• Clyde Deal
• Jimmy Mitchell
• Wanda Kay Moore: stuck up girl in Jess' class.
• Judith Hancock
• Gary Fulcher: classmate of Jess and Leslie; fast runner too
• Miss Bessie: the family's cow; Jess' job is to milk her tiwce a day
• Greg Williams
• Billy Jean Edwards
• Mr. Turner
• Joyce Ann Aarons: Jesse's baby sister

Quotes edit see section history

• “Jess drew the way some people drank whiskey. The peace would start at the top of his muddled brain and seep down through his tired and tensed-up body. Lord, he loved to draw.”

  Jess (thoughts)

• “It was Leslie who had taken him from the cow pasture into Terabithia and turned him into a king. He had thought that was it. Wasn't king the best you could be? Now it occurred to him that perhaps Terabithia was like a castle where you came to be knighted. After you stayed for a while and grew strong you had to move on. For hadn't Leslie, even in Terabithia, tried to push back the walls of his mind and make him see beyond to the shining world—huge and terrible and beautiful and very fragile? (Handle with care—everything—even the predators.)”

  Jess (thoughts)

• “How could he explain it in a way Leslie would understand, how he yearned to reach out and capture the quivering life about him and how when he tried, it slipped past his fingertips, leaving a dry fossil upon the page. "I just can't get the poetry of the trees," he said.”

  Jess (on drawing)

• “There in their secret place, his feelings bubbled inside him like a stew on the back of the stove -some sad for her in her lonesomeness, but chunks of happiness too. To be Leslie's one whole friend in the world as she was his- he couldn't help being satisfied about that.”

  Jess Aarons

• “"When my husband died" - Jess could hardly imagine Mrs. Myers ever having a husband-"People kept telling me not to cry, trying to make me forget." Mrs. Myers loving, mourning. How could you picture it? "But I didn't want to forget." She took out her handkerchief from her sleeve and blew her nose. "Excuse me," she said. "This morning, when I came in, someone had already taken out her desk." She stopped and blew her nose again. " It- it- we- I have never had such a student. In all my years of teaching. I shall always be grateful-" He wanted to comfort her. He wanted to unsay all the things he had ever said about her- even unsay the things Leslie had said. Lord, don't ever let her find out."So- I realize. If it's hard for me, how much harder it must be for you. Let's try to help each other, shall we?”

  Mrs. Myers

• “He could no more imagine Leslie chasing a boy than he could imagine Mrs. Double-Chinned Myers shinnying up the flagpole. Gary Fulcher could go to you-know-where and warm his toes.”

  Jess Aarons

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• Sometimes it seemed to him that his life was delicate as a dandelion. One little puff from any direction, and it was blown to bits.

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• Sometimes like the Barbie doll you need to give people something that’s for them, not just something that makes you feel good giving it.

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• She looked at him as if she were going to argue, then seemed to change her mind. “It’s crazy, isn’t it?” She shook her head. “You have to believe it, but you hate it. I don’t have to believe it, and I think it’s beautiful.” She shook her head again. “It’s crazy.”

  Highlighted by 52 Kindle customers

• could be a magic country like Narnia, and the only way you can get in is by swinging across on this enchanted rope.”

  Highlighted by 50 Kindle customers

• It seemed to him that he had been thought too big for that since the day he was born.

  Highlighted by 47 Kindle customers

• Ba-room, ba-room, ba-room, baripity, baripity, baripity, baripity—Good.

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• Now it was time for him to move out. She wasn’t there, so he must go for both of them. It was up to him to pay back to the world in beauty and caring what Leslie had loaned him in vision and strength.

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• Leslie was more than his friend. She was his other, more exciting self—his way to Terabithia and all the worlds beyond.

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• She smiled. “OK,” she said. “But I still don’t think God goes around damning people to hell.” They smiled at each other trying to ignore May Belle’s anxious little voice. “But Leslie,” she insisted. “What if you die? What’s going to happen to you if you die?”

  Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers

• Leslie named their secret land “Terabithia,”

  Highlighted by 18 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Terabithia: Jess and Leslie's enchanted realm in the back woods of their neighborhood. They are the rulers of it, and they fight giants and evil spirits often in it together.
• Washington, D.C.
• Lark Creek
• Virginia: Story occurs in southwest Virginia.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Teribithia: Jess and Leslie's imaginary kingdom.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• 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.
• Childhood: Childhood is a corollary to the theme of friendship in the book. As mentioned before, some people might have a tendency to breezily summarize childhood as a time of carefree bliss, when nothing could go wrong. This might be reinforced by the idealized times that Leslie and Jess spend in Terabithia, which seem to be the epitome of untroubled childhood joy. However, Paterson recognizes that this is far from being true all the time—in fact, the main attraction of Terabithia is that it allows the children to escape the "real world," which is apparently nearly as full of pain and sorrow for children as for adults. Sometimes this is played down a bit, as when May Belle is devastated when Janice Avery steals her Twinkies; however, the character of Janice herself is perfect proof that childhood is not always perfect, given her father's violent abuse of her. Jess, too, struggles with very pervasive problems of identity imposed by his family and classmates. Leslie must contend with the disdain of her classmates and the wavering attention of her parents, whose work often dominates their lives. Paterson clearly encourages us to take a look beyond the stereotype of idealized childhood and to realize that children deal with problems just as pressing as those that adults face. Our priorities shift as we grow older, so we have a tendency to downplay the crises of childhood as unimportant, even though they are very real and important to the children who suffer them.
• Conformity and individuality: Jess's main struggle in the book is to discover his true identity when faced with the demands of his family and society in general. The push is for him to conform—to discard his artistic talent and concentrate instead on those pursuits that are either more "manly" or which will be more practically useful to the family. His classmates expect him to come out of a certain mold as well, to watch the Washington Redskins on television and hang with the guys and act tough. However, it's Jess misfortune—or, to offer an alternate point of view, his good luck—not to fit this mold particularly well, and he feels trapped, finding running to be the only safe outlet for his own talents and inclinations. When Leslie comes along, she helps Jess to escape from the crushing pressures of conformity. Her parents' background as free-spirited near- hippies has given her a great deal of freedom and personal choice, and she opens Jess's eyes to the possibilities that exist for him as well. When she dies, he is crushed, but he has gained enough strength and sense of self through his friendship with her to carry on without her and not lose touch with all she has taught him.
• Gender Roles: Gender role is a motif that plays off the idea of conformity. Jess is expected to fit into a certain mold, but that mold is a distinctly masculine one. Jess's father is scornful of his artistic ability, calling it a girl's pastime. Jess's classmates snigger if he shows a tendency to want to avoid brawling when possible. Jess is expected to be responsible, stoic, and strong, and to be ready to shoulder the burden of responsibility for the family that his father has carried all these years. Leslie meets with the family's disapproval because she doesn't fit easily into a feminine category, with her short hair and athletic ability. However, this is part of what draws Jess to her. She has a liberating force that she exerts over all his cramped confinement. Leslie shows him that he does not need to fulfill a peculiarly masculine role, and that he is free to be himself without reference to gender stereotypes.
• Education: Education is portrayed rather dubiously throughout Bridge to Terabithia. Certainly the area in which Jess lives is not strong on education: the rural area is dirt-poor, with little money to fund a school system, and most of the residents are uneducated as well, farmers by destiny and by trade. Jess has very little exposure to intellectual thirst and curiosity until he meets the Burkes. They are all extremely intelligent and highly educated, a fact that sets Jess reeling at first. Certainly their education forms a crucial difference between them and the rest of the people in the area.Yet the dichotomy is not absolute. As Jess gets to know Leslie, he hungrily devours her books and eagerly immerses himself in the imaginary world of Terabithia. He doesn't assimilate her education overnight, but the seeds of intelligence and desire to learn are firmly planted in him, and if he'll never be the erudite that either of Leslie's parents is, the gap between them is not as wide as he imagines. The reader is left wishing that Jess had the opportunity to have the education that Leslie's had, but in the end it isn't really necessary: his cleverness and ambition will take him far in their own right.
• 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.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Katherine Paterson (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Donna Diamond (Illustrator)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Newbery Medal (1978, Winner)
• ALA Notable Children's Book (1977)
• School Library Journal Best Book (1977)
• Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (1978)
• Janusz Korczak Medal (Poland) (1981)
• Silver Pencil Award (Holand) (1981)
• Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award (1986)
• Le Grand Prix des Jeunes Lecteurs (France) (1986)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PZ7.P273 Br
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

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This is a great book, but for younger children, you might want to double-check it before they read it. There are some deep themes which may be disturbing for younger readers. Only mature kids can fully appreciate the beauty of this book.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Secondary Solutions: Common Core and NCTE/IRA Standards-Aligned Literature Guide for teaching Bridge to Terabithia
• Wise Guys Teaching Resources: This is a link to our purchasable 46 page reading activity guide that accompanies the book. Enjoy!

Movie Connections edit see section history

• Bridge to Terabithia (IMDb): 2007
• Bridge to Terabithia (IMDb): 1985

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