Bridge to Terabithia has three groups of characters: the Burkes, the Aarons family, and the significant teachers and students of Lark Creek Elementary School.

Jess Aarons, the most important character in the story and the one who determines the location of action, is the middle child between four girls. Two, Brenda and Ellie, are selfish adolescents used to getting around their mother. The other two, Joyce Ann and May Belle, are younger and look up to him. Jess is the victim of his older sisters and the protector of the younger, particularly May Belle. Mrs. Aarons seems worn out from children, work, and poverty, and she makes the mistake, as her husband does also, of separating chores into men's work and women's work. Jess, outnumbered, performs most of the chores around the farm, especially in the absence of his father. Jess would like a closer relationship...