BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA

Novel Review

Jess Aarons is an eleven-year-old boy living in a rural area of the South who loves to run. He is the only boy in a family of five children. His sisters are Brenda, Ellie, May Belle, and Joyce Ann. He lives with his sister, his mother, and his father. He comes from poor family. Jess not only loves to run but also love to paint and draw. His father works in Washington, D.C.; therefore he spends little time with his children. May Belle is the second youngest sister who like Jesse so much. Leslie Burke is an only child who moves from Arlington, Virginia, to the same area as Jesse. Her parents are writers. She comes from wealthy family.

Jess and Leslie become close friends. Jess shares his secret love of drawing with Leslie, and Leslie shares with Jess her love of fantasy stories. With this new friendship, the two children find a place which just for them and create an imaginary kingdom in the woods near their homes. They swing over a creek by a rope and find a place in an old crap apple tree. They name the kingdom Terabithia and declare themselves King and Queen, and they spend every day after school there. In Terabithia, they are able to face their real-world fears, such as that of the eighth grade bully Janice Avery. When Christmas come, Leslie gives Jess a drawing pad and a set of watercolors and a tube of paint as a Christmas gift, and Jess gives Leslie a dog that she names Prince Terrien, or "P.T." for short. They consider P.T. to be the guard of  Terabithia.

Jesse has a crush on his young music teacher, Miss Edmunds. When Jesse accompanies Miss Edmunds to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Leslie goes to Terabithia alone. The rope breaks as she is swinging over the rain-swollen creek. Though a good swimmer, Leslie falls into the creek and drowns, possibly due to head injury. Jesse can overcome his grief only with the strength and courage that his friendship with Leslie had given him.

He attempts to deal with his grief by going back to Terabithia alone to make a memorial wreath for Leslie. During his ceremony, he hears a cry for help and finds May Belle caught in the midst of a fallen tree that she had been trying to use as a bridge across the creek. He helps her out of danger and rescues her. Leslie's grief-stricken parents soon decide to leave the area. As Mr. and Mrs. Burke are leaving, Jesse asks to take some of their wooden planks from their back porch. They say he may have anything left in the house; thus permitted, he goes down to Terabithia to build a bridge. After he finishes the bridge, he takes May Belle over it and decides to make her the Queen of Terabithia. 

I.       Reading

a.       Plot

Because the story of this novel is defined well by the author, the plot of the novel is tight and well defined plot.

b.      Setting

                             i.   Time

  There is no specific time in this novel.

                           ii.   Place

  There are some familiar places because the author mentions some places in USA such as Washington (page 111), Mill burgs (page 112), Lark Creek (page 22), and Pennsylvania (page 128).

                         iii.   Atmospheres

The novel makes the reader will feel a great friendship between Jess and Leslie, and the readers also get the imagination of Terabithia.

c.       Character

                          i.      List of characters in the novel :

·      Jesse Oliver Aarons

·      Leslie Burke

·      May belle

·      Ellie

·      Brenda

·      Joyce Ann

·      Jesse’s Mother

·      Jesse’s Father

·           Judy (Leslie’s mother)

·           Bill (Leslie’s father)

·           Billy Rudd

·           Janice Avers

·           Gary Fulcher

·           Mr. Turner

·           Mrs. Myers

·           Mrs. Edmunds

                                ii.      The personalities of characters in the novel :

·         Jesse Oliver Aarons

o  He is brave. This personality is known by thoughts in page 100.

Well, you just have to stand up to your fear and not let it squeeze you white.

o  He loves to run. The personality of Jesses Oliver Aarons is explained by Personal Description in page 11.

His straw-colored hair flapped hard against his forehead, and his arms and legs flew out every which way. He had never learned to run properly, but he was long-legged for a ten-year-old, and no one had more grit than he

o  He has a crush on Mrs. Edmunds. The personality is defined by thoughts in page 40.

He nodded and smiled back. Even his toes had felt warm and tingly. She didn't speak directly to Jess, but she gave him a look with those blue eyes of hers that made him zing like one of the strings she was strumming.

·         Leslie Burke

o  She is an imaginative girl and never gives up. The personalities are described by conversation in page 49.

 ‘I know’ – she was getting excited – ‘it could be a magic country like Narnia, and the only way you can get in is by swinging across on this enchanted rope. ‘Her eyes were bright. She grabbed the rope.  ‘Come on,’ she said. Let’s find a   place to build our castle stronghold.’

o  She loves Jess. The personality is known by conversation by of others in page 127.

‘She loved you, you know.’ He could tell from Bill’s voice that he was crying.

·         May Belle

o  She is curious girl. The personality is described by conversation in page 89.

 ‘Jess, I know where you and Leslie go to hide.’

‘What d’you mean?’

‘I followed ya.’

·         Joy Ann

o  She is a baby. The personality is described by speech in page 115.

Her face sagged. "Joyce Ann ain't nothing but a baby."

·         Ellie

o  She is Jesse’s oldest sister. She is vain girl and spoils everything like Brenda. These personalities are defined by thoughts in page 16.

Ellie jabbed her with a spoon. Jesse saw that look. Brenda shut up her wine halfway out of her Rose luster lipsticked mount. She wasn’t as smart as Ellie, but even she knew not to push Momma too far.

·       Brenda

o  She is determined. The personality is defined by speech in page 92.

Brenda burst in. ‘Do you know what some people do? They charge something and wear it, and then take it back and say it didn’t fit or something. The stores don’t give ‘em no trouble.’        

o  She is brave to tell the fact. The personality is defined by speech in page 90.

Brenda's pouting voice broke in, "Your girl friend's dead, and Momma thought you was dead, too."

·         Jesse’s Mother

o  She is kind and care about her husband. The personalities are explained by thoughts in page 23.

Momma’d ever forget she was tired and mad. He was the only one who had to take that stuff.

o  She is temper woman because she works too hard. The personalities are explained by speech in page 15.

‘Oh, take it,’ his mother said angrily, reaching for her cracked vinyl purse on the shelf above the stove. She counted out five wrinkled bills.

·         Jesse’s Father

o  Understandable. This personality is seen by character as seen by another in page 95.

"I forgot Miss Bessie."

"Your daddy's milking her."

"I forgot last night, too."

She kept nodding her head. "Your daddy did it for you."

o  Sympathy. The personality is defined by conversation in page 124.

"Your friend Leslie is dead, Jess. You must understand that.”

·         Judy and Bill (Leslie’s parents)

o  They are writers, while Judy (Leslie’s mother) writes for novel and Bill (Leslie’s father) writers for politic. These personalities are defined by past time in page 55.

Both of the Burkes were writer. Mrs. Burke wrote novels and, according to Leslie, was more famous that Mr. Burke who wrote about politics. It was really something to see the shelf that had their books on it. Mrs. Burke was ‘Judith Hancock’ on the cover, which threw you at first, but then if you looked on the back, there was her picture looking very young and serious. Mr. Burke was going back and forth to Washington to finish a book he was working on with someone else, but he had promised Leslie that after Charismas he would stay home and fix up the house and plant his garden and listen to music and read books out loud and write only in his spare time.

·      Janice Avers.

o  She is rude. The personality of Janice Avery is told by conversation of others in page 45.

They would even stand outside the girls' room first thing every morning and make the little girls give them their milk money before they'd let them go to the bathroom.

o  She had a problem with her father. The personality of Janice Avery is told by conversation of others in page 86.

"Did you know her father beats her?"

"Lots of kids' fathers beat 'em." Will you get on with it?"

"No, I mean really beats her. The kind of beatings they take people to jail for in

Arlington." She shook her head in disbelief. "You can't imagine...."

·         Mrs. Edmunds

o  She is music teacher in Jess’s school and she is very beautiful face and always smiles to the students and Jess has a crush with her. The personality is defined by as seen by another in page 21.

She probably was. Jess wouldn’t argue that, but he saw her as a beautiful wild creature who had been caught for a moment in that dirty old cage of a schoolhouse, perhaps by mistake.

·         Mrs. Myers

o  She is obvious teacher. The personality is defined by manner in page 29.

Mrs. Myers handed out books almost as though she were President of the United States, dragging distribution process out in senseless signings and ceremonies.

o  She is sympathetic teacher. The personality is defined by speech in page 138.

‘Jess,’ she repeated. ‘I just want to give you my sincere sympathy.’ The words like a Hallmark card, but the tone was new to him.

d.      Way of telling story

The novel used eye-of-God method to tell the story because the author acts like a God who knows the story well.

II.    Meaning

a.       General Meaning

The story tells us about unbreakable friendship between Jesse and Leslie.

b.      Detailed Meaning

Bridge to Terabithia is a novel which tells about a close friendship between Jesse and Leslie, a great imagination of Terabithia Kingdom, and about two kinds of family who have different treatment for their children.

c.       Intention

                          i.   Don’t be afraid to explore your imagination.

                        ii.   Take care of your children well.

                      iii.   Keep your friendship well.

                      iv.   Listen and follow what your heart says.

                        v.   Don’t be afraid to do something, dare to try.

III. Devices

a.                  Structural

                       i.         Unity

Jesse and Leslie were two children who had not friend, but had a wonderful imagination. Both of them like to be alone. That’s why they become a good friend each other.

                     ii.         Contrast

1.                                                      Jesse behavior before and after Leslie’s death

Before : He was a bit rough to May Belle

After   : He was kind to May Belle, he take care of her.

2.                                                      Janice behavior before and after Leslie’s death

Before : She is very rude to Jesse

After   : She was kind to Jesse

                        iii.      Description

The description happen when Leslie who always dress look like a boy, change into a feminine when The Easter.

Leslie looked decent. Her hair was kind of slicked down, and she wore a navy-blue

jumper over a blouse with tiny old fashioned-looking flowers. At the bottom of her red knee socks were a pair of shiny brown leather shoes that Jess had never seen before as Leslie always wore sneakers like the rest of the kids in Lark Creek. Even her manner was decent. Her usual sparkle was toned way down, and she said "Yes'm" and "No'm" to his mother just as though she were aware of Mrs. Aaron's dread of disrespect. Jess knew how hard Leslie must be trying, for Leslie didn't say "ma'am" naturally.

                            iv.   Dialog

The dialog happens when Jesse and Leslie try to find a place just for two of them.

‘Do you know what we need?’ Leslie called to him. Intoxicated as he was with the heavens, he couldn’t imagine needing anything on earth.

‘We need a place,’ she said just for us. It would be so secret that we would never tell anyone in the whole world about it.’ Jess came swinging back and dragged his feet to stop. She lowered her voice almost to a whisper. ‘It might be a whole secret country,’ she continued, ‘and you and I would be the rulers of it.’ Her words stirred inside of him. He’d like to be a ruler of something. Even something that wasn’t real. ‘O.K.,’ he said. ‘Where could we have it?’ ‘Over there in the woods where nobody would come and mess it up.’

b.      Sense

                                  i.      Style

This novel is interesting because it describe how the friendship is existed and how Jess and Leslie rule the Terabithia Kingdom.

                                ii.      Use of Words

·         Simile

o  She was sitting straight up in her seat' looking as pleased with herself as a motorcycle rider who's just made it over fourteen trucks (page 86).

Things in common              : Leslie and motorcycle rider

Things compare                  : Her straight seat.

o  But the words turned over uneasily in his mind like leaves stirred up by a cold wind (page 120)

Things in common              : Words in his mind and leaves

Things in compare              : Hard to forget.

·         Metaphor

o  Entering the gallery was like stepping inside the pine grove – the huge vaulted marble, the cool splash of the fountain, and the green growing all around (page 113).

Things in common              : The gallery and pine grove

Feature compare                 : The situation of the gallery which is beautiful,  and huge.

o  He paused in mid air like a stop action T.V. shot and turned, almost losing his balance, to face the questioner who was sitting on the fence nearest the old Perkins place, dangling bare brown legs (page 25).

Things in common              : Jesse and action T.V

Feature compare                 : The way stop his body to stop and turn when hear voice from somewhere like a shot in action movie.

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA (The Movie)

                 

Directed by     : Gabor Csupo.

Produced by    : David Paterson, Lauren Levine, and Hal Lieberman.

Written by       : Katherine Paterson

Screenplay by  : David L. Paterson, Jeff Stockwell

Starring             : Josh Hutcherson (Jesse Aarons), AnnaSophia Robb (Leslie Burke), Robert Patrick (Jesse’s Father), Bailee Madison (May Belle), and Zooey Deschanel (Miss. Edmunds).

Distrubuted by            : Walt Disney Picture (USA) and Summit Entertainment (International)

Release date     : February 16, 2077.