Hi everyone this is a summary of the book i just read called bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. I hope you enjoy it.
~KEEP ON READING, JACOB~
Bridge To Terabithia
Chapter 1
Jesse Oliver Aarons, Jr is a 10 year old boy that lives on a farm, he has a big family but is very poor. Jess gets up early and sneaks out every morning to run, he is training to be the fastest kid in the 5th grade. "He had to be the fastest-Not one of the fastest or next to the fastest, but the fastest. The very best." (pg2) He wants to be recognised as the fastest and be judged nicely from the people at school and at home, most importantly from his father. "Even his Dad would be proud" (pg3) He has a little sister named May Belle, she is 7 years old and worships Jesse. May Belle is one of four girls, she is the only one that likes Jesse. Jesse's two eldest sisters have despised him ever since he stopped letting them dress him up and push him around in a rusted old pram.
Chapter 2
Jesse loves to draw but no one approves of it, his family and teachers think badly of it. Except for his music teacher Miss Edmunds, she thinks his drawings are great. Miss Edmunds only works on friday afternoons and Jesse drags himself to school all week just to have that 30 mins every Friday. He thinks Julia Edmunds is the most beautiful woman ever, Jesse likes Julia and she likes him too. "Jesse drew the way some people drink whiskey the peace would start at the top of his modelled brain and seep down through his tired and tensed-up body." (pg12) Jesse saw someone sitting on the fence but wasn't sure wether it was a boy or girl, but after he got close he was sure it was a girl. She had brown hair and wore jeans cut to her knees. Her name was Leslie Burke she was from the Perkins place next door, it was a name that could be a boy or a girl but he was sure for some reason that it was a girl.
Chapter 3
It's the first day of school and Jesse hadn't seen Leslie since he saw her on the fence. Everyone was dressed in their Sunday best but Leslie was wearing the same old ripped clothes as before. Jess wore his only pair of corduroys and an ironed shirt. The class room was small and just fit the desks in there. Mrs Myers smiled after asking Jesse and Bobby to pass out the arithmetic books, the kids in the upper grades say that she only ever smiles on the first and last day of school. "Famous first-day-of-school smile." (pg23) Leslie was sitting by herself and she waved at Jess as he past. Gary Fulcher grabbed Jess' arm and said "gonna run today", Jess nodded yes. Gary thought he would win, " He thinks he can beat me, the dumbhead." (pg23)
The bell rang for lunch and everyone ran out before the teacher could finnish her sentence. Everyone lined up for the race and Gary took charge trying to be like Wayne Pettis. He put everyone into groups and Jess was in four. Gary was in the first group and won the race, he continued running the show. It eventually came to Jess' race and Leslie had come down, she wanted to run but Gary said no. Jess stood up for Leslie and told Gary to put her in the race. The race started and Jess bolted forwards, he felt good and had it in the bag, he felt someone coming up and pushed harder. It was Leslie, she passed Jess and won the race. Everyone was shocked and said nothing. Leslie ended up winning the finals as well and left everyone in shock.
Chapter 4
It was Friday and people had started to leave to play king of the hill. There wasn't even enough people for heats so that took away the suspense. Leslie won it again and racing wasn't fun anymore because of her. Jesse thought at least it's friday and he had Miss Edmunds for music. Miss Edmunds was softly strumming her guitar as she tuned it and took notice of Leslie, she asked for an introduction and one of the girls gave her one. She started singing and everyone joined in, by the end of the song it got so loud that the whole school could have heard them. After that class Jess thought different of Leslie and he didn't have to announce it for her to know. On the bus Leslie came and sat squished up next to Jesse. She asked Jess if he wanted to do something this afternoon but May Belle wanted to come too. Jesse told her only he and Leslie have to do something. May Belle wouldn't give it up until Leslie bribed her with paper dolls. Jesse and Leslie ran down to the forest and swung across the ditch on a rope. They decided that they would have a secret world here like Narnia and they would call it 'Terabithia'. They built a shelter on the golden pine needles and used it as their castle.
On monday the races were done, no one raced anymore so Jesse and Leslie sat down in a quiet spot on the oval. The other kids picked on Jesse calling Leslie his 'girl' friend. In Mrs Myers class everyone had to write a story about their hobby and Leslie wrote about scuba diving. Mrs Myers read it out because she thought it was interesting, Jess was scared just hearing about it. Mrs Myers gave an assignment to the class, she told them to watch a tv program tonight about scuba diving. Leslie said that she couldn't watch it because she didn't have a TV set, murmurs spread across the room. "lord Leslie. Don't say that. You can always watch on mine."(pg39) On the bus back home Leslie sat on the back seat where the year sevens sit. Jesse quickly tried to move her before the year sevens got on the bus and squashed her. He stood up to one of the big girls and got Leslie back to the regular seats.
Chapter 5
Leslie and Jesse both hated Janice Avery, they think of her as a giant. Janice and her two friends Wilma Dean and Bobby Sue Henshaw would roam the playground and take kids milk money. May Belle was on the bus and was so excited that her dad gave her twinkies! She yelled it to everyone, Janice heard and perked up. Jesse told May Belle to stop before Janice takes them. At lunch time May Belle ran up to Jesse and Leslie crying because Janice stole her twinkies, May Belle told Jesse to beat her into a million pieces. Jesse knew he couldn't do that and promised May Belle that they will make her pay. May Belle said "Cross your heart and hope to die?" (pg55) Leslie and Jess crossed their hearts. When they got back to Terabithia they crouched down and tried to think of how to get Janice back. They decided to write a fake love letter to her from Willard Hughes and embarrass her. Leslie told Jess what to write and he wrote it down. It said that Willard loves her and to meet him after school to walk home together. The next morning Leslie and Jesse snuck into the classroom and put the note in her desk. During lunch Janice didn't take anyones money, she just walked with her friends with pink cheeks and smiling. On the bus home someone noticed that Janice wasn't on the bus and that she was with Willard. Everyone had an argument of wether she was with Willard or not. In the morning Janice got on the bus looking angrier than ever and stared down everyone. May belle whispered to Jess "did you do that?" Jesse nodded yes. They had gotten Janice back and May Belle was happy, but Jesse felt kind of bad.
