Bridge to

Terabithia
By: Katherine Paterson
Group 3: Rochelle Arcega, Brendan
Child, Jack Meier, Jemielleann
Quero, & Jessica Schwieger
 Summary
● Opens with Jesse Oliver Aarons, Jr. (Jess) starting the fifth grade at Lark Creek
Elementary, a rural school that’s “short on everything”, much like Jess’ family and
the majority of families in Lark Creek. Despite hard work and physical labor (by
mostly Jess and his father), the Aarons family farm is struggling financially. Amongst
his four sisters, he feels closest to May Belle, who is a few years younger.
● Jess runs in highly competitive, gender-exclusive tournaments during recess to stand
out amongst his peers (he trains every morning to get a competitive edge, but keeps
this secret). His true passion is drawing, something not accepted as useful by his
parents or teachers. An exception to this is his music teacher Miss Edmunds, who
respects and reaffirms his creativity, but is perceived as unusual.
 Summary
● The status-quo is disrupted when Leslie Burke and her family move into the farm
next to the Aarons place. The affluent Burke family moved to Lark Creek to get
artistic inspiration. Jess becomes infatuated with Leslie, but wants to maintain
outward emotional distance from Leslie, who is quickly becoming an outcast. With
Jess’ help, Leslie is allowed to participate in the races (girls are expected to play
hopscotch) - she wins so consistently that the races end altogether.
● Leslie and Jess become close friends, despite Jess’ outward indifference towards
Leslie, and they eventually create the kingdom of Terabithia in a small forest by their
houses. Jess uses his practical skills to create wooden forts, and Leslie uses her
creative experience to make the “spirit” of the kingdom; this is epitomized by Leslie’s
use of Shakespearean English. Jess inwardly hopes to learn how to speak like this
someday. A large creek and a rope swing separate Terabithia and Lark Creek.
 Summary
● As their relationship deepens, they spend more time openly together, despite how
others may perceive this. As a team, they take on various feats such as: coming to
terms with a bully, raising a puppy (Prince Terrien), and helping to renovate the
Burke home with Leslie’s parents. Often their actions are paralleled by or formulated
in Terabithia. They quickly become best friends, and arguably platonic romantic
partners (as the King and Queen of Terabithia).

-SOMETHING HAPPENS-

● Jess builds a far more stable bridge to Terabithia with planks of wood, with the hopes
of passing down the tradition of ruling over Terabithia to his younger sisters.
 Central Theme: Physical Realities, Metaphysical Realities,
and the Bridges Between
PHYSICAL METAPHYSICAL
REALITIES: REALITIES:

Lark Creek Terabithia

THE Intellectual/
Physical Labor BRIDGE
Creative Experience
Artistic Labor
-Struggling for Jess Leslie
resources Practical Experience -Resources=
creativity
-Human THE
preconceptions/ RIVER -Anyone can be
prejudices anything

-Hard work isn’t -Rewards come

necessarily from one’s self
rewarded (imagination)
Other Notable Themes
● The American Dream/ Nightmare
● Gender Standards/ Societal Expectations
● Family, Friendship, Love and/ or Crushes
● Religion
● Grief and Reconciliation
● Overcoming Prejudice
Biography: Katherine Paterson
● Became an avid reader when she was very young
● Writes books about very difficult subjects
● Has won 2 Newbery Medals
● Has won 2 National Book Awards
 Summary of Literary Criticisms
https://www.tor.com/2013/09/25/banned-books-week-bridge-to-terabithia-katherine-paterson/
This criticism given by Mari Ness (a famous fantasy writer, insatiable reader and blogger of many renowned books) gives us the
breakdown of why Katherine Paterson's book “A bridge to Terabithia” has been labeled as a controversial book. For example, “Bridge
to Terabithia has the dubious distinction of being one of the most frequently banned and/or challenged books in the United States,
supposedly because of its references to witchcraft and atheism and a lot of swearing”. She goes on to explain that the true reason she
believes people challenged it is due to the fact that it’s just so completely tragic and heartbreaking and that when you are ten, the title
just shrieks of false advertising. Lol
https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter98/simmons.html
In an article by John Simmons labeled “A Bridge Too Far — But Why?
John Simmons stated that “For the record, this Paterson novel has been on PFAW’s most wanted list four times in this decade: 7th in
91-92, 6th in 92-93, 8th in 94-95, and 10th in 95-96”. On the long-range hit list, it’s placed 8th or 9th each year since 92-93. My overall
assessment is that Bridge to Terabithia , winner of the 1978 Newbery Medal, offers a sensitive, imaginative, and eminently teachable
story of the lives of two innocent ten-year-olds who come from vastly different walks of life but whose friendship is credible, delightful
— and ultimately tragic. He goes on to explain that “When I first read the novel, I found myself taken over by a great desire to share the
text with a middle school or junior high class”.
 More Criticism
https://www.bustle.com/articles/35706-bridge-to-terabithia-the-beloved-ya-tear-jerker-inspired-a-song-plus-6-other-things-you-didnt

In an article by “Stephen Shugerman” of Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images, Shugerman mentions how fantasy lovers might've
noted that the name of Jesse and Leslie's imaginary kingdom, Terabithia, sounds oddly close to Terebinthia, the island featured in C.S.
Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, and the similarity is no accident — well, sort of. In 2005, Paterson said that she thought she had made
the name up, but realized, while re-reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, that she'd been inspired by the Lewis creation. Even still,
she explained that both her and Narnia's author likely got the name from the biblical Terebinth tree, so the Terabithia author was not
entirely at fault.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2007/02/sudden_death.html

This criticism, written by Emily Bazelon, discusses the affect Bridge to Terabithia still teaches us. In this analysis, she give us a
summary of a book and then she goes along to discuss the main and most obvious theme to this book, which is death. Emily states that
the lesson that this novel is still teaching us today is that death "is at the backhand of risk and beauty". Emily even goes on to compare
some scenes from the movie to the book, for example, the scene where Leslie is about to die in the movie is more obvious because of the
music whereas in the book, it seemed more so random and senseless.
 Why We Think the Author Won the Award
● Talks about gender issues
● Shows the length of the creativity of a child’s imagination
● Touches on the topic of death
● Shows a very realistic representation of grief
How to Incorporate This Text in a Classroom
● Read it together as a class, and discuss the major themes, friendships, outsider, family, imagenation, courage, denial/coping, and
more. You can create a project for each theme.
● Friendships and Imagination, you can have students create a book of an adventure of themself and friends. Then you can talk with
students about friends vs. bullies.
● You can make charts of the difference between Leslie's family and Jess’s family or compare and contrast Lark Creek and
Terabithia.
● You can always make a science project from this book, making a small bridge out of wood and discussing the dimantics of how it
is made, then go over all the literal and figurative bridges in the book and in our society, and what the bridge means to Jess.
● You can also talk about the elements in the novel, like the action, climax, and resolution, while staying focused on comprehending
the story, which you can do in groups and each group draws out the story line.
● . You can also give each student a journal and every class period they can free write after reading. Then share their thoughts if they
want to.
● You can take the students outside and look at nature to see what kind of things they see through their imagination.
 Discussion/Questions
1) Death is a strong theme in “Bridge to Terabithia”- can/ should a teacher address the
topic of an afterlife? How?

2) In your opinion, do you agree or disagree with this book being one of the top 10
controversial books and why?

3) As a teacher, if this book was one that your class had to read and the parents felt their
child should not have to read this book, what are some of the problems you feel need to be
addressed and why? For example, would you explain the subject of religion and how it is
usd in this book to an angry parent?

4) Why/what are some of the reasons you would recommend/not recommend this book to
a friend?