Bridge to Terabithia takes place in rural Virginia in the mid 1970's. The time and place that this story takes place was when the Vietnam War was just ending. The three main group characters in this story were the Burke's, the Aaron's, and the students and teachers of Lark Creek Elementary. Jess Aaron's, who is one of the main characters, is the middle son of four sisters in the Aaron's family. His older sisters Brenda and Ellie are very close to their mother, and don't have much use for Jess. Jesse's younger sisters, Joyce Ann and May Belle, look up to Jess as someone very special, someone they can look up to.
             Then Leslie moves into the neighborhood and Jess and Leslie become best friends. They created an imaginary world called Terabithia, in the countryside of Virginia. In order to get to Terabithia you have to swing across a creek by rope. Since Leslie is new to the area and is so different from everybody else, she has a problem being accepted by the other students at school. She is very different from the other students; she chooses not to own a TV and always wears pants. Jess doesn't accept her at first, especially when she destroys his dream of being the fastest runner in the fifth grade by beating him and every other fourth grader in a race meant only for boys. But, he becomes her friend in spite of the differences between them.
             Leslie is very talented and creative. She creates roles for her and Jess to play and the script for their secret kingdom, deep in the forest. There, they escape from their real and imaginary enemies with Prince Terrien, a dog which was a gift to Leslie from Jess. The friendship comes to an end when the Leslie drowns while trying to cross over to Terabithia during a storm. Jess goes through so many emotions before he is able to accept with Leslie's death. He decides to build a bridge between him and his baby sister in order to bring beauty and joy into the world and so that she...