Bridge to Terabithia follows the life of fifth-grader Jesse Aarons, an artistic boy in poverty stricken conditions who resides on his family's small farm with his parents and four sisters. At the start of the story, Jess has been preparing all summer to be the fastest runner in his class. His plans are short-lived because a new girl in town named Leslie Burke will impress their teachers immediately and outrun him. While initially resentful, Leslie's intelligence, creativity, and independence win him over, and they become inseparable friends.
Together the two come upon a hidden grove across a creek, accessible by swinging on a rope. They dub the magical land Terabithia and themselves the king and queen of the kingdom. Terabithia is their secret land-a place where they can surmount all the challenges of school and home life. Leslie, an avid reader, instructs Jess on how a monarch should behave and loans him her favorite books, The Chronicles of Narnia. On Christmas, Jess gives Leslie a puppy, which they name Prince Terrien, Terabithia's protector.
When seventh-grader Janice Avery bullies Jess's little sister May Belle, stealing her Twinkies on the bus, Leslie concocts an effective revenge. She and Jess write a forged love letter from Willard Hughes, the boy all the girls have a crush on, and plant it in Janice's desk. The result is ingenious, with Janice being thoroughly humiliated but unscathed. Later, finding Janice crying in the bathroom, Leslie learns that Janice's father abuses her and that her friends at school have spread the secret around. Leslie comforts her, and a quiet understanding develops between them.
As the story develops, the world of the Burkes pulls Jess in more and more. Leslie's parents, Bill and Judy, are well-read, creative, and bohemian in a way that makes Jess comfortable calling them by their first names. When the Burkes start renovating their house, Jess joins in to help, using his handyman skills and finding a sense of comfort in their free-spirited, artistic home. After a period away from Terabithia, Jess and Leslie return to their treetop kingdom, playing at fending off dark invaders and giving thanks in the sacred grove of pines.
Though Leslie is not religious, she joins the Aarons family at church on Easter Sunday. Her open disbelief in the Bible sends May Belle into a tailspin of worry: “What if you die?”, an ominous comment that foreshadows what is to come.
One day, Jess's music teacher, Miss Edmunds, invites him on a spontaneous trip to Washington, D.C., to visit the Smithsonian. Jess spends a magical day exploring art and culture, only to return home to devastating news. Leslie is no more, after falling from the rope while trying to cross to Terabithia during a rainstorm. Overwhelmed with grief and guilt, Jess struggles to accept her death. In time, he honors Leslie's memory by creating a safe bridge to Terabithia and by sharing their secret world with May Belle, crowning her the new queen. In the end, Jess's journey of friendship, imagination, and loss teaches him courage, love and creativity.
