Bridge to Terabithia — Chapter 10

About This Passage

Jess has just been told that Leslie is dead. He does not cry. He does not sit down. He runs. Paterson shows us that when a child cannot accept terrible news, the body takes over — legs move, lungs burn, feet pound the road. Jess believes, in a way that is not logical but is deeply real, that if he keeps running, Leslie cannot be dead. This is what grief looks like before the mind catches up to what has happened: not tears, but motion. The passage shows that the body sometimes knows things the mind refuses to learn.

Narration Prompt

Tell someone what happened in this chapter in order. Start from when Jess's father told him the news. What did Jess do, and why do you think he did it?

Discussion Questions

1. When Jess's father tells him Leslie drowned, Jess screams 'No!' and says 'I don't believe you! You're lying to me!' He looks around the room for someone to agree with him, but everyone has their heads down — except Maybelle, whose eyes are wide with terror. Why does Jess look for someone to tell him it isn't true? What in the story makes you think so?
2. Jess's father chases him in the pickup truck and picks him up 'as though he were a baby.' Jess kicks and struggles at first, then gives in. In chapter 1, Jess and his father barely talked, and his father seemed disappointed in him. Why does the father hold Jess like a baby now? What has changed between them? What in the story makes you think so?

+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide