Bridge To Terabithia (novel) - Characters

Characters

• Jesse Oliver Aarons Jr.—In the beginning of the novel, is habitually fearful, angry and depressed. He also has a crush on his music teacher, which plays an integral role in the final events of the story. After meeting and then ultimately losing Leslie, Jesse is transformed, in that he becomes courageous and lets go of his anger and frustration.
• Leslie Burke—An intelligent, talented, imaginative, outgoing girl. Her talents include gymnastics, creative writing, swimming, writing and running. Jesse Aarons thinks highly of her, and they are loyal friends. She is not socially accepted by the other students in Jesse's school, to whom she is a newcomer. She is an atheist in the novel, but in the 2007 movie version it is indicated that she believes in God. She dies when she falls into a creek and sustains a fatal head injury.
• Joyce Ann Aarons—Jess' bratty four-year-old sister. May Belle thinks Joyce Ann is "nothing but a baby."
• May Belle Aarons—May Belle is one of Jesse's younger sisters. She is described as the only one of Jesse's siblings with whom he feels comfortable. However, because she is six years to Jesse's 10, she does not fit the mold of the ideal confidante to Jesse, leaving him still desperate for companionship. She clearly worships him from the beginning, and like him, feels that she does not have a place in the family. She is the first of his sisters to learn about Terabithia, and becomes Queen after Leslie dies. She is the only one Jesse allows to enter his world and the only one who has any sort of empathy for, or acceptance of, Jesse in his family.
• Ellie & Brenda Aarons—Ellie and Brenda Aarons are Jesse's two older sisters. They primarily exist as secondary static characters, or characters who do not grow or change as a result of the events of a story. They are never mentioned separately within the novel and are never portrayed in a positive light. From the beginning of the story, they continually ask for favors from their mother, and pocket money which she cannot afford to give them. With sufficient whining, they know how to get their way with their parents, such as asking for five dollars to pay for school supplies from their mother by saying that their father promised that they could have the money. Being the elder of the two and the eldest child in the family, Ellie develops their ideas. Both have an incredible desire not to have anything to do with Jesse specifically, but with all of their younger siblings more broadly. At the climax of the story, when Jesse learns of Leslie's death, Brenda is the one who tells him of it. The fact that Brenda is the one who breaks the news to Jesse in the novel only serves to increase the shock.
• Janice Avery—The school bully at Lark Creek. Janice is very overweight and tends to become very offended when people tease her for being so. She has a crush on Willard Hughes, which Jesse uses to trick her. Janice's father beats her, and she secretly smokes.
• Miss Edmunds—The somewhat unconventional and controversial music teacher, whom Jesse greatly admires. She invites Jesse to go to the Smithsonian Museum, which leads Leslie to go to Terabithia by herself. As a result, Leslie is alone when she falls from the rope.
• Prince Terrien—A puppy that Jesse gave Leslie as a present. He is the guardian and court jester of Terabithia.
• Gary Fulcher—He and Jesse both hope to be the fastest kid in the fifth grade; he serves as another bully in the story, but he is not quite as mean as Janice Avery.
• Mrs. Myers—Jesse and Leslie's teacher, who is given the nickname "Monster Mouth Myers." She favors Leslie the most out of her class, and says to Jesse when Leslie had died that she was the best student she had ever had. Her husband had also died.
• Leslie's Parents—Novelists who come to the story's location for purposes of their work. Unlike most of the locals, they do not watch television.