Jess finds himself hating fifth grade-the only bright spot in his week is music class with Miss Edmunds, a beautiful hippie who encourages Jess’s secret talent: drawing. Even as Leslie’s disregard for social norms is off-putting to Jess, he finds that there is something beautiful in the way Leslie runs, free as a wild bird. Jess despairs when he realizes Leslie is in his class on the first day of school-and becomes even more annoyed with her when she demands to race alongside the boys at recess (and wins).

Her name is Leslie Burke, and she is a shabby, nosy tomboy.

When a new family moves into the shabby old farmhouse across the street, Jess’s sister May Belle hopes there will be a girl her age she can play with, but Jess soon realizes that the family’s child is a girl his own age. Jess also has four sisters- Joyce Ann, May Belle, Ellie, and Brenda-who annoy and antagonize him in various ways. Aarons, who commutes daily to a job in Washington, D.C., seems to dislike the person Jess is growing into. Aarons, nags him constantly about his chores, while his distant, unaffectionate, and overworked father, Mr. Running is an escape for Jess-there’s a lot for him to contend with at home. It will take the love of his family and the strength that Leslie has given him for Jess to be able to deal with his grief.īridge to Terabithia was also named an ALA Notable Children's Book and has become a touchstone of children's literature, as have many of Katherine Paterson's other novels, including The Great Gilly Hopkins and Jacob Have I Loved.As summer comes to an end, 10-year-old Jesse Oliver Aarons, Jr.-or Jess, as he likes to be called-spends every morning running through the fields behind his house in the rural town of Lark Creek, Virginia, determined to win the title of fastest runner in the fifth grade when school resumes. One morning, Leslie goes to Terabithia without Jess and a tragedy occurs. The two become fast friends and spend most days in the woods behind Leslie's house, where they invent an enchanted land called Terabithia. And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, outpaces him. Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. This beloved Newbery Medal-winning novel by bestselling author Katherine Paterson is a modern classic of friendship and loss. IsPublicPerformanceAllowed False languages Sutter County Main Branch Children's Area

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Bridge to terabithia book cover