Bridge to Terabithia

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1977

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-11

Chapters 12-13

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

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Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary: “Jesse Aarons, Jr.”

Jesse Aarons, “Jess,” wakes up early to the sound of his dad’s pickup truck leaving for work. He jumps out of bed to go running before the late summer air gets too hot. At Jess’s school, the younger grades race during recess because their school is short on athletic equipment. Winning a race last year gave Jess a taste of victory, and he is determined to return to school as the fastest runner. Jess imagines how proud his seven-year-old sister, May Belle, will be. He hopes that winning the race will make his father “so proud he’d forget about how tired he was” from his work (5). At breakfast, his older sisters Brenda and Ellie evade their chores and persuade their mother to let them go shopping for school supplies. While she concedes to the girls, Jess’s mother tells him to “get your lazy self off that bench” (9) and finish his chores. While Jess works in the bean patch, May Belle points out that a new family is moving into the old Perkins’ house, the run-down farmhouse next door.

Chapter 2 Summary: “Leslie Burke”

Mrs. Aarons is cross and too tired to make supper. Jess makes his little sisters, May Belle and Joyce Ann, sandwiches, and the three of them eat outside, watching the U-Haul and wondering about the neighbors.

Jess keeps his art supplies hidden under his mattress. Drawing gives Jess peace and satisfaction. He wants to show his drawings to his father but knows his father disapproves. None of Jess’s teachers approve, either, apart from his music teacher, Miss Edmunds. The teachers dislike Miss Edmunds because she does not wear lipstick but wears pants. Even Jess’s mother calls Miss Edmunds a hippie. Jess is in love with Miss Edmunds. He feels connected to her because neither of them “belong at Lark Creek” (17). Jess gets up from drawing to do his evening chores. He sees Brenda and Ellie return home and feels dejected, knowing that his mother will cheer up and laugh with them. He feels lonely in a house full of girls and does not feel companionship with his father, who favors his younger sisters: “It made Jess ache inside to watch his dad grab the little ones to his shoulder, or to lean down and hug them” (20). The only thing his father says to him that evening is that he is late milking the cow.

The next morning, Jess goes about his normal routine of running before milking the cow. He is surprised by a voice behind him. He sees a child his age with jagged brown hair and cutoff jeans, and it takes Jess a moment to realize that she is a girl. She introduces herself as Leslie Burke. While Leslie suggests that they be friends, Jess leaves after introducing himself, insisting that he has work to do.

Chapter 3 Summary: “The Fastest Kid in the Fifth Grade”

On the first day of school, Jess anticipates showing off how fast he has become. Jess’s new fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Myers, is intimidating and known for smiling only on the first and last days of school. While the other children dress up, Leslie arrives wearing cutoffs and a blue undershirt. Since the classroom is already crowded, her desk is placed on the front wall, facing the rest of the class. She doesn’t seem bothered, but Jess feels sorry for her. When Jess starts drawing, his classmate, Gary Fulcher, tries to peek. Jess hides the drawing and stomps on Gary’s foot to keep him away.

At lunch, Jess overhears his classmates make fun of Leslie and wishes they would leave her alone. Finally, it’s time for recess. The fifth-grade boys divide into different preliminary races. One of the races ends in a tie, and Jess challenges Gary Fulcher to let both winners run in the final. Gary responds, “[N]ext thing you’re gonna want to let some girl run” (33). Not wanting to show weakness, Jess challenges Gary to let Leslie run. Leslie runs in Jess’s group, winning easily. When Gary tells her to go on and play hopscotch rather than let her run in the final, Jess taunts him to let her run if he’s not afraid. Leslie beats all of them. As Jess hurries back to the classroom, Leslie thanks him and says he’s the only “kid in the whole durned school worth shooting” (36). Jess brushes her off and avoids her on the bus home. When Jess watches Leslie run home from the bus stop, he thinks she’s beautiful.

Chapters 1-3 Analysis

Bridge to Terabithia is set in a rural Virginian town outside Washington, DC, in the mid to late 1970s. These first chapters introduce the Lark County community that is in “the backwash of fashion” (16), slow to accept what was common in “Washington or its fancy suburbs” (16). The elementary school is underfunded, with crowded classrooms, sparse equipment, and no lunchroom. The omniscient narrator is limited to Jess’s perspective. Because the narrative includes Jess’s thoughts and feelings, the reader sees the anxieties and hurt that he keeps hidden.

The first three chapters introduce Jess and his family and establish the primary conflict of the novel: Jess feels out of place and insecure. At home, Jess is sandwiched between four sisters, three of whom pick on him or scream at him. While Jess wants a connection with his father, Mr. Aarons is either exhausted from work or doting on the little sisters. When Jess tried to share his art with his father, Mr. Aarons clearly disapproved, grumbling about “old ladies turning my only son into some kind of a—” (14). Mr. Aarons didn’t need to finish his sentence for Jess to get the point. Jess hides what is most important to him and tries to become someone his father will admire. Desperate for his father’s approval, Jess takes up running. Even this hobby makes Jess unpopular at home—Ellie and Brenda gripe about his sweat, and his mother chides him for neglecting his chores. At school, Jess is equally lonely, hiding his art and his anxiety to prove himself to his classmates. The only person at school with whom Jess feels connected is Miss Edmunds, another outsider. Instead of ridiculing what is different about him, she calls him a “diamond in the rough” (17). With Miss Edmunds, Jess finally feels the affirmation and companionship he lacks everywhere else.

Jess takes out this pent-up anxiety on his little sister, May Belle, even though he loves her more than anyone else. After Ellie and Brenda complain about his sweaty shirt, Jess turns to May Belle and commands her to fetch him a fresh shirt. He later tells her to “shuttup,” undoubtedly voicing what he wants to tell his mother and sisters. Jess’s anger even comes out at school. When Gary Fulcher threatens to expose Jess’s drawings in class, Jess responds by stomping on his foot. This demonstrates how anxious Jess is to keep his creative self hidden and present a tough image.

Leslie Burke interrupts this conflict by showing Jess how an outsider can be friendly and confident. Her friendliness is off-putting to him. When Leslie says, “we might as well be friends” (22), Jess is taciturn and walks away. While other students snicker at her appearance, gender, and even what she eats, Leslie seems unphased. When Leslie runs, she looks like “it was her nature” (36), unlike Jess who runs to get approval. Her confidence threatens not only the social order at school but the emotional walls with which Jess protects himself.