Summary of a Story - Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge to Terabithia is a kind of children's literature, a novel, that was written by Katherine Paterson and was published in 1977 by Thomas Crowell. This is my summary of the story. I use some sources like wikipedia, shmoop, and sparknotes to complete this text. 

Summary of “Bridge to Terabithia”

Jesse Oliver Aarons is a fifth grader boy who lives in a small town called Lark Creek. He likes to paint and draw, but he knows very well that it labels him a “sissy” in the eyes of his friends and his family. When he was in first grade, he told his father that he wanted to be an artist when he grew up. He thought his father would be pleased, but he was not. So, Jess shows his drawing to nobody, but Miss Edmunds. She is a music teacher and Jess is in love with her.

Jess also loves to run and he wants to become the fastest runner in his school, so he can get his father’s attention and get rid of the label. Jess practices each morning and dreams about his upcoming victory. But then, a new girl who just became his neighborhood named Leslie Burke wins the race. She becomes the fastest kid in the fifth grade. Leslie continues to join the boys at recess and she always wins the race. Running is not fun anymore for the boys.

The fifth grade has music right after recess and it is during music class that Jess changes his mind about Leslie whom he hated in the beginning. They end up becoming good friends. They spend a lot of time together and take over a part of a nearby forest. It is only accessible by swinging on an ‘enchanted rope’ over the creek. Leslie named their secret place Terabithia and she loans Jess all of her books about Narnia, so he will know how things went in a magic kingdom. They are the rulers of this imaginary land where they can escape from the bullies and the boredom in the school.

Leslie likes to make up stories about the giants that threatened Terabithia, but they both know that the real giant in their lives is Janice Avery. When she steals Twinkies from May Belle, Jess’s little sister, Leslie and Jess get revenge on her by writing her a fake love letter from Willard Hughes and embarrassing her.

For Christmas, Jess wants to give Leslie something as much as he needed when he was hungry. By the last week before holiday, he is growing desperate because he still does not know what kind of gift that is suitable for Leslie and there is also no money to buy it. Then he finds the sign ‘Puppies Free’. On Christmas Eve afternoon, Leslie gives a box of watercolours with twenty-four tubes of colour and three brushes and a pad of heavy art paper and Jess gives a puppy for Leslie. They name the puppy Prince Terrien and make him the guardian of Terabithia.

After Christmas, Mr. Burke, Leslie’s father, begins to repair the old Perkins place. Leslie and Jess help him to fix it. The next afternoon, they go to Terabithia with Prince Terrien or P.T. They imagine that they have to conquer a hostile savage on their northern borders. A few days later, they have an encounter of a different sort at school. Janice Avery is crying in the girls’ room and they work together to comfort her.

Leslie goes to church with Jess’s family for Easter and after the service, Leslie, Jess, and May Belle argue about whether people will go to hell if they do not believe in the Bible. Leslie is the one who thinks that she does not have to believe it.

It’s been raining for a month and it becomes more difficult to go to Terabithia. But they still go there on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. They imagine that the rain is a curse from some evil being to their kingdom. One day, Jess thinks it is too dangerous to go to Terabithia because of the heavy rain. But he agrees to go to a museum in Washington with his teacher, Miss Edmunds. That’s the perfect and the best day for Jess. But when he comes home, he is shocked by the news that Leslie died when attempting to cross the creek.

Jess does not want to believe it. He feels so guilty about her death because he did not ask Leslie to go to the museum on that day. Jess is devastated and goes through the stages of grief—denial, anger, fear, and sorrow—. Everyone is gentle to Jess except May Belle. Once he hit her, and he wants to tell her he was sorry, but he is too tired to figure out how.

Jess wake up on Saturday morning, a beautiful spring morning. He goes to Terabithia with P.T. to make a funeral wreath for Queen Leslie. Then he hears a scream from his little sister who had attempted to use a fallen tree as a bridge to Terabithia. One day after school, Jess starts to build a bridge ౼the bridge to Terabithia౼, and when he finishes it, he allows May Belle to join his secret and makes her the new queen of Terabithia.

by Elisa

Posted in: Stories,Summary