A Bridge To Terabithia

PLOT, SETTING, THEME, NARRATIVE POINT OF VIEW

PLOT:

Jess Aarons is an eleven year old boy living in the South. At Jess' school, the kids race everyday to see who can run the fastest. Jess wants to be the fastest runner in the 5th grade so his dad will be proud of him. When school starts, there is new girl named Leslie Burke. She goes to the boy's side of the playground and beats everyone in the race. Jess & Leslie become best friends and create a fantasyland across the creek in the woods where they live. They call it Terabithia.

Everyday after school Jess & Leslie go to Terabithia. Leslie is the queen and Jess is the king. They play all kinds of games there, Leslie tells Jess stories like Moby Dick, and Jess pretends that his family is not poor. Also, Leslie is the only person that understands that Jess wants to be an artist. Everyone else makes fun of him so he feels like being an artist is dumb. Leslie even buys him an expensive art set for Christmas to help him be a better artist.

One day the music teacher at school, Miss Edmunds, invites Jess to go with her to Washington to see the art galleries. Jess goes with her and has a great day. But when Jess gets home, he finds out that Leslie drowned when she was swinging into Terabithia on the rope. He feels sad, angry, and afraid because his best friend is dead. After a while, he decides that Leslie would want him to keep Terabithia alive and not pretend like it never happened.

SETTING:

The story takes place during the end of the 1970's. The location is a place called Lark Creek, Virginia, a rural area in the southern part of the United States. Most of the story takes place either at Lark Creek Elementary School or in Terabithia, the make believe land across the creek in the woods where Leslie and Jess live.

THEME:

The