In Bridge to Terabithia, Jesse Aarons meets and becomes friends with a new girl who moves in next door, Leslie Burke. Together, they create a fantasy land called Terabithia. However, when Jesse goes off for the day without Leslie, Leslie travels to Terabithia on her own. She has an accident and dies, and Jesse must learn to cope with his friend's death.

As the novel begins, Jesse Aarons is determined to be the fastest kid in fifth grade. He has been training hard all summer, rising early to run laps in the cow field of his family's farm, only then to face a day full of chores. Whenever Jesse has a spare moment, he retreats to the privacy of his room to secretly indulge his talent for drawing, a pastime of which his father does not approve.

Jesse's dreams are dashed when Leslie Burke, the new...