Sunday, August 24, 2008

Download KM Player! - A Universal Media Player

KMPlayer description

A korean media and DVD Front-End Player.

KMPLAYER is a korean movie and audio player that supports a wide range of codecs and file formats, It has full VCD/DVD playback functionality.


KMPlayer is a program that allows you to play audio and video files.

Here are some key features of "KMPlayer":

Supported Files or Devices 
· HTTP Streaming(AVI etc including none-streaming media)
· Directshow playback (avi, mkv etc)
· Real Engine + Directshow (needs Real Player or Alternative)
· QuickTime Engine + Directshow (needs QuickTime player or Alternative)
· Mplayer Engine Support 
· Winamp Input Plugin(decoder) Support
· Compressed Audio Album Support(zip, rar)
· Audio CD(2000, XP only / Win9x-Support by winamp plugin)
· Video CD/SVCD/XCD : CDXA Format (2000, XP only)
· DVD playback
· DTS Wave and AC3 files
· WDM device support like TV or Camera
· CD Image File (BIN/ISO/IMG/NRG) ; NRG needs mplayer.dll
· Shoutcast (Including NSV)
· AAC, OGG parser/decoder
· Shockwave Flash/FLC/FLI
· Ape/MPC/Flac/Module etc
· Various Image files like png, gif etc 
· Incomplete/Damaged AVI file (Skip Damaged Frames)

· Locked Media Files while downloading or sharing.

Built-in Codec/Filters
· Video Codec
· MPEG4 (Divx/Xvid : ffmpeg/xvid)
· MPEG1/2 (ffmpeg/libmpeg)
· etc (ffmpeg)
· Audio Codec
· AC3/DTS/LPCM/MPG/MP3/OGG/AAC/WMA
· 2Ch to Multi Channel expansion
· External Codec
· Media Priority to Connect among Directshow, Real, QT, Winamp and Mplayer
· Custom Filter Manager
· System Filter Manger 

Plugins
· Winamp Input Plugins
· Winamp DSP Plugins (Can Stack)
· Winamp Visual Plugins (Can Stack)
· Winamp General Plugins (Media Library etc Support)
· KMP Video Plugins by SDK (Can Stack)
· DScaler Filter Support (Can Stack)

Download KM Player:

Mirror Link #1 (US)

Mirror Link #2 (RO)

Mirror Link #3 (beta 1)



Saturday, August 23, 2008

Download Movie - Star Wars: The Clone Wars

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars"

Genre: Adventure / Animation / Sci-Fi 
Release: 2008 August 
Length: 1H., 30 min. 
Views: 178286
Rate: 77%

Starwars: The Clone Wars Description :  
  
As the Clone Wars sweep through the galaxy, the heroic Jedi Knights struggle to maintain order and restore peace. More and more systems are falling prey to the forces of the dark side as the Galactic Republic slips further and further under the sway of the Separatists and their never-ending droid army. Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano find themselves on a mission with far-reaching consequences, one that brings them face-to-face with crime lord Jabba the Hutt. But Count Dooku and his sinister agents, including the nefarious Asajj Ventress, will stop at nothing to ensure that Anakin and Ahsoka fail at their quest. Meanwhile, on the front lines of the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda lead the massive clone army in a valiant effort to resist the forces of the dark side …


The film has been divided into 5 parts. Enjoy!

Part #1

Part #2

Part #3

Part #4

Part #5


Download Songs - Jaane Tu...ya jaane na!

(Direct Link - Right click and choose 'Save Target As')

1. Kabhi Kabhi Aditi
2. Pappu Can't Dance
3. Jaane Tu Mera Kya Hai - Female Version
4. Nazrein Milaana, Nazrein Churaana
5. Tu Bole Main Boloon
6. Kahin To Hogi Woh
7. Jaane Tu Meri Kya Hai - Male Version
8. Pappu Can't Dance - Remix

Free Download Rock On! Songs.

Hey guys, guess what, today's something new. Yes, I have provided songs of latest music release Rock On! for you all to freely download them and enjoy their essence.  All you need to do is to have a real player or a km player  and you can get them easily from google.  The songs are in .rm form, so others may not be able to play them. Anyways enjoy!

List of Songs:

1. Socha Hai/Farhan Akhtar

2. Pichle Saat Dinon Mein / Farhan Akhtar

3. Rock On !! / Farhan Akhtar

4. Ye Tumhari Meri Baatein / Dominique

5. Zehreelay / Suraj Jagan

6. Tum Ho Toh / Farhan Akhtar

7. Sinbad The Sailor / Farhan Akhtar

8. Pichle Saat Dinon Mein (Live Version) / Farhan Akhtar, Raman Mahadevan

9. Phir Dekhiye / Caralisa Monteiro

I hope you will like it. Remember only real or KM player, which I know, can play the .rm formats. You can also convert them using some audio converting softwares as of Switch of NCH production. I will be updating more of these stuffs. Keep an eye on my blog!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Some Love Quotations!

All great authors and scholars have experienced love and most of them have adored it. In their masterpieces and chronicles they have penned galore of things about love. Now, these writings are referred as the most authentic and justifying statements of love and love quotes. Their write-ups are used as love quotations. On Valentines Day, lovers quote them for asserting their love.

"Oh! How I miss you so much
Your kiss
Your touch
All of you"

"You may conquer with the sword, But you are conquered by a kiss" ~Daniel Heinsius

"A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous"~Ingrid Bergman

"If music be the food of love, play on"~Shakespeare

"It is never too late to fall in love"~Sandy Wilson

"Love is like an hour glass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties"~Jules Renord

"No man is worth your tears, and the one who is won't make you cry."

Love is not finding someone to live with, It's finding someone you can't live without. ~Rafael Ortiz

"Where there is great love , there are always miracles" ~Willa Cather

Love is like a butterfly. It goes where it pleases and it pleases where it goes.

Happiness is to love and to be loved.

To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven~Karen Sunde

Music is love in search of a word

"The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love"

"why is it when you love someone so much that you can never find the right words to tell them?"-alb to justin

Women are made to be loved, not understood. ~Oscar Wilde

"Some people care too much. I think it's called love."

Thursday, August 14, 2008

LOTS OF GIGS AND GAGS - JOKES!

A. HOW OLD ARE YOU?

A little girl and her mother were out and about.
Out of the blue, the girl asked her mother, "Mommy, How old are you?"
The mother responded, "Honey, women don't talk about their age. You'll learn this as you get older."
The girl then asked, "Mommy, how much do you weigh?"
Her mother responded again, "That's another thing women don't talk about. You'll learn this, too, as you grow up."
The girl, still wanting to know about her mother, then fired off another question, "Mommy, why did you and Daddy get a

divorce?"
The mother, a little annoyed by the questions, responded, "Honey, that is a subject that hurts me very much, and I don't want

to talk about it now."
The little girl, frustrated, sulked until she was dropped off at a friend's house to play. She consulted with her girlfriend

about her and her mother's conversation.
The girlfriend said, "All you have to do is sneak a look at your mother's driver's license. It's just a like a report card

from school. It tells you everything."
Later, the little girl and her mother were out and about again.
The little girl started off with, "Mommy, Mommy, I know how old you are. I know how old you are. You're 32 years old."
The mother was very shocked. She asked, "Sweetheart, how do you know that?"
The little girl shrugged and said, "I just know. And I know how much you weigh. You weigh 130 pounds."
"Where did you learn that?"
The little girl said, "I just know. And I know why you and Daddy got a divorce. You got an 'F' in sex."

B. COMPUTER DIAGNOSIS

One day Bill complained to his friend, "My elbow really hurts, I guess I should see a doctor."
His friend offered, "Don't do that. There's a computer at the drug store that can diagnose anything quicker an cheaper than a doctor. Simply put in a sample of your urine and the computer will diagnose your problem and tell you what you can do about it. It only costs $10."
Bill figured he had nothing to lose, so he filled a jar with a urine sample and went to the drug store. Finding the computer, he poured in the sample and deposited the $10. The computer started making some noise and various lights started flashing. After a brief pause out popped a small slip of paper on which was printed: You have tennis elbow. Soak your arm in warm water. Avoid heavy lifting. It will be better in two weeks.
Late that evening while thinking how amazing this new technology was and how it would change medical science forever, he began to wonder if this machine could be fooled. He decided to give it a try. He mixed together some tap water, a stool sample from his dog and urine samples from his wife and daughter. To top it off, he masturbated into the concoction.
He went back to the drug store, located the machine, poured in the sample and deposited the $10. The computer again made the usual noise and printed out the following message:
Your tap water is too hard. Get a water softener. Your dog has worms. Get him vitamins. Your daughter is using cocaine. Put her in a rehabilitation clinic. Your wife is pregnant with twin girls. They aren't yours. Get a lawyer. And if you don't stop jerking off, your tennis elbow will never get better.

C.NICE BIKE

On Christmas morning a cop on horseback is sitting at a traffic light, and next to him is a kid on his shiny new bike. The cop says to the kid, "Nice bike you got there. Did Santa bring that to you?"
The kid replies, "Yeah."
The cop says, "Well, next year tell Santa to put a tail-light on that bike."
The cop then proceeds to issue the kid a $20.00 bicycle safety violation ticket.
The kid takes the ticket and before he rides off says, "By the way, that's a nice horse you got there. Did Santa bring that to you?"
Humoring the kid, the cop says, "Yeah, he sure did."
The kid continued, "Well, next year tell Santa to put the dick underneath the horse, instead of on top."


D. TWO PENSIONERS

Two old pensioners are taking a trip down memory lane by going back to the place where they first met.
Sitting at a café, the little old man says, "Remember the first time I met you over 50 years ago? We left this cafe, went round the corner behind the gas works, and I gave you one from behind."
"Why, yes, I remember it well, dear," replies the little old lady with a grin.
"Well, for old time's sake, let's go there again. and I'll give you one from behind."
The two pensioners pay their bill and leave the cafe. A young man sitting next to them has overheard the conversation and smiles to himself, thinking it would be quite amusing to see two old pensioners at it. He gets up and follows them. Sure enough, he sees the two pensioners near the gas works. The little old lady pulls off her knickers and lifts up her dress.
The old man pulls down his pants and grabs the lady's hips, and the little old lady reaches for the fence. Well, what follows is 40 minutes of the most athletic sex the man has ever seen. The little old man is banging away at the little old woman at a pace that can only be described as phenomenal. Limbs are flying everywhere, the movement is a blur, and they do not stop for a single second. Finally, they collapse and don't move for an hour.
Well, the man is stunned. Never in his life has he ever seen anything that equates to this -- not in the movies, not from his friends, not from his own experiences.
Reflecting on what he has just seen, he says to himself, "I have to know his secret. If only I could shag like that now, let alone in 50 years' time!"
The two old pensioners have by this time recovered and dressed themselves. Plucking up courage, the man approaches the pensioner.
He says, "Sir, in all my life I have never seen anybody shag like that, particularly at your age. What's your secret? Could you shag like that 50 years ago?"
The pensioner replies, "Son, 50 years ago, that f**ing fence wasn't electrified."

E. SON OF A BITCH

Girl: "Forgive me father for I have sinned."
Priest: "What have you done my child?"
Girl: "I called a man a son of a bitch."
Priest: "Why did you call him a son of a bitch?"
Girl: "Because he touched my hand."
Priest: "Like this?" (as he touches her hand)
Girl: "Yes father."
Priest: "That's no reason to call a man a son of a bitch."
Girl: "Then he touched my breast."
Priest: "Like this?" (as he touched her breast)
Girl: "Yes father."
Priest: "That's no reason to call him a son of a bitch."
Girl: "Then he took off my clothes, father."
Priest: "Like this?" (as he takes off her clothes)
Girl: "Yes father."
Priest: "That's no reason to call him a son of a bitch."
Girl: "Then he stuck his you know what into my you know where."
Priest: "Like this?" (as he stuck his you know what into her you know where)
Girl: "YES FATHER, YES FATHER, YES FATHER!!!"
Priest: (after a few minutes): "That's no reason to call him a son of a bitch."
Girl: "But father he had AIDS!"
Priest: "THAT SON OF A BITCH!!!"

F. WHAT IS MY AGE?

A man decides to have a face-lift for his birthday. He spends $5,000 and feels really good about the results. On his way home, he stops at a newsstand and buys a paper.
Before leaving, he says to the sales clerk, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but how old do you think I am?"
"About 35," was the reply.
"I'm actually 47," the man says, feeling really happy.
After that, he goes into McDonalds for lunch and asks the clerk the same question.
The reply is, "Oh, you look about 29".
"I am actually 47."
Later, while standing at a bus stop, he asks an old woman the same question.
She replies, "I am 85 years old, and my eyesight is going. But when I was young, there was a sure way of telling a man's age. If I put my hand down your pants and play with your balls for 10 minutes, I will be able to tell you your exact age."
As there was no one around, the man thinks, What the hell and lets her slip her hand down his pants.
Ten minutes later, the old lady says, "Okay, it's done. You are 47."
Stunned, the man says, "That was brilliant. How did you do that?"
The old lady replies, "I was behind you at McDonalds."

G. APPLES AND ORANGES

A young teenaged girl was a prostitute and, for obvious reasons, kept it a secret from her grandma. One day, the police raided a brothel and arrested a group of prostitutes, including the young girl. The prostitutes were instructed to line up in a straight line on the sidewalk. Well, who should be walking in the neighborhood, but little old Grandma. The young girl was frantic.
Sure enough, Grandma noticed her young granddaughter and asked curiously, "What are you lining up for, dear?" Not willing to let grandma in on her little secret, the young girl told her that some people were passing out free oranges and that she was lining up for some.
"Mmm, sounds lovely," said Grandma. "I think I'll have some myself," she continued as she made her way to the back of the line. A police officer made his way down the line, questioning all of the prostitutes. When he got to Grandma, at the end of the line, he was bewildered. "But you're so old... how do you do it?"
Grandma replied, "Oh, it's quite easy, sonny... I just remove my dentures and suck 'em dry!"

H. HORRIBLE DEATHS

Three men were standing in line to get into heaven one day. Apparently it had been a pretty busy day, though, so St. Peter had to tell the first one, "Heaven's getting pretty close to full today, and I've been asked to admit only people who have had particularly horrible deaths. So what's your story?"
The first man replies: "Well, for a while I've suspected my wife has been cheating on me, so today I came home early to try to catch her red-handed. As I came into my 25th floor apartment, I could tell something was wrong, but all my searching around didn't reveal where this other guy could have been hiding. Finally, I went out to the balcony, and sure enough, there was this man hanging off the railing, 25 floors above ground! By now I was really mad, so I started beating on him and kicking him, but wouldn't you know it, he wouldn't fall off. So finally I went back into my apartment and got a hammer and starting hammering on his fingers. Of course, he couldn't stand that for long, so he let go and fell-but even after 25 stories, he fell into the bushes, stunned but okay. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I ran into the kitchen, grabbed the fridge, and threw it over the edge where it landed on him, killing him instantly. But all the stress and anger got to me, and I had a heart attack and died there on the balcony."
"That sounds like a pretty bad day to me," said Peter, and let the man in.
The second man comes up and Peter explains to him about heaven being full, and again asks for his story.
"It's been a very strange day. You see, I live on the 26th floor of my apartment building, and every morning I do my exercises out on my balcony. Well, this morning I must have slipped or something, because I fell over the edge. But I got lucky, and caught the railing of the balcony on the floor below me. I knew I couldn't hang on for very long, when suddenly this man burst out onto the balcony. I thought for sure I was saved, when he started beating on me and kicking me. I held on the best I could until he ran into the apartment and grabbed a hammer and started pounding on my hands. Finally I just let go, but again I got lucky and fell into the bushes below, stunned but all right. Just when I was thinking I was going to be okay, this refrigerator comes falling out of the sky and crushes me instantly, and now I'm here."
Once again, Peter had to concede that that sounded like a pretty horrible death.
The third man came to the front of the line, and again the whole process was repeated. Peter explained that heaven was full and asked for his story.
"Picture this," says the third man, "I'm hiding naked inside a refrigerator..."

I. JUST AN EMAIL NOTE

An Illinois man left the snowballed streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day. When he reached his hotel, he decided to send his wife a quick e-mail.
Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had written her e-mail address, he did his best to type it in from memory. Unfortunately, he missed one letter, and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher's wife whose husband had passed away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her e-mail, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor dead.
At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen:
Dearest Wife,
Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow.
Your Loving Husband.

P.S. Sure is hot down here.

J. WASHCLOTHS

There was a little boy whose mother was about to have a baby. One day, the little boy walked in and saw his mother naked. He asked his mother what the hair between her legs was.
She responded, "It's my wash cloth."
Weeks later, after the mother had her baby, the young boy walked in on his mother again. While she was in the hospital, the doctor had shaved her pubic hair.
The boy asked, "What happened to your wash cloth?"
The mother responded, "I lost it."
The little boy, trying to be helpful, set out to find his mother's washcloth.
A few days later, he ran to his mother yelling and screaming, "I found your washcloth."
The mother, thinking that the child was just playing, went along with the boy and asked, "Where did you find it?"
The boy answered, "The maid has it! She is washing daddy's face with it."

K. A DIRTY FORK

A blind man walks into a restaurant and sits down. The waiter, who is
also the owner, walks up to the blind man and hands him a menu.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I am blind and can't read the menu. Just bring me a
dirty fork from a previous customer. I'll smell it and order from
there."
A little confused, the owner walks over to the dirty dish pile and picks
up a greasy fork. He returns to the blind man's table and hands it to
him. The blind man puts the fork to his nose and takes in a deep breath.
"Ah, yes, that's what I'll have -- meatloaf and mashed potatoes."
Unbelievable, the owner thinks as he walks towards the kitchen. The cook
happens to be the owner's wife. He tells her what had just happened.
The blind man eats his meal and leaves.
Several days later, the blind man returns and the owner mistakenly
brings him a menu again.
"Sir, remember me? I'm the blind man."
"I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you. I'll go get you a dirty fork."
The owner retrieves a dirty fork and brings it to the blind man.
After another deep breath, the blind man says, "That smells great. I'll
take the macaroni and cheese with broccoli."
Walking away in disbelief, the owner thinks the blind man is screwing
around with him and tells his wife that the next time the blind man
comes in he's going to test him.
The blind man eats and leaves.
He returns the following week, but this time the owner sees him coming
and runs to the kitchen.
He tells his wife, "Mary, rub this fork on your panties before I take
it to the blind man."
Mary complies and hands her husband the fork. As the blind man walks in
and sits down, the owner is ready and waiting.
"Good afternoon, sir, this time I remembered you and I already have
the fork ready for you."
The blind man puts the fork to his nose, takes a deep whiff, and says,
"Hey I didn't know that Mary worked here..."

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

PHOTO TRIP AROUND THE WORLD!

PHOTO TRIP AROUND THE WORLD - A MUST SEE

Cherry Blossoms Japan

Tundra

Autumn in Germany 

Scenery of Europe

German's Neuschwanstein Castle 

View of Holland


Disney Castle


Gol den Maple Leaf

Lavender Farm and Tree


7 reasons why world will end in 2012! Proven Scientifically!!

7 reasons the world will end in 2012
Scientific experts from around the world are genuinely predicting that five years from now, all life on Earth could well finish. Some are saying it'll be humans that set it off. Others believe that a natural phenomenon will be the cause. And the religious folks are saying it'll be God himself who presses the stop button...
1. Mayan Calendar
The first mob to predict 2012 as the end of the world were the Mayans, a bloodthirsty race that were good at two things:

Building highly accurate astrological equipment out of stone and
Sacrificing Virgins.

Thousands of years ago they managed to calculate the length of the lunar moon as 329.53020 days, only 34 seconds out. The Mayan calendar predicts that the Earth will end on December 21, 2012. Given that they were pretty close to the mark with the lunar cycle, it's likely they've got the end of the world right as well.

2. Sun Storm
Solar experts from around the world monitoring the sun have made a startling discovery: our sun is in a bit of strife. The energy output of the sun is, like most things in nature, cyclic, and it's supposed to be in the middle of a period of relative stability. However, recent solar storms have been bombarding the Earth with so much radiation energy, it's been knocking out power grids and destroying satellites. This activity is predicted to get worse, and calculations suggest it'll reach its deadly peak sometime in 2012

3. The Atom Smasher

Scientists in Europe have been building the world's largest particle accelerator. Basically its a 27km tunnel designed to smash atoms together to find out what makes the Universe tick. However, the mega-gadget has caused serious concern, with some scientists suggesting that it's properly even a bad idea to turn it on in the first place. They're predicting all manner of deadly results, including mini black holes. So when this machine is fired up for its first serious experiment in 2012, the world could be crushed into a super-dense blob the size of a basketball.

4. The Bible says...

If having scientists warning us about the end of the world isn't bad enough,religious folks are getting in on the act aswell. Interpretations of the Christian Bible reveal that the date for Armageddon, the final battle between Good an Evil, has been set down for 2012. The I Ching, also known as the Chinese book of Changes, says the same thing, as do various sections of the Hindu teachings.

5. Super Volcano
Yellowstone National Park in the United States is famous for its thermal springs and Old Faithful geyser. The reason for this is simple - it's sitting on top of the world's biggest volcano, and geological experts are beginning to get nervous sweats. The Yellowstone volcano has a pattern of erupting every 650,000 years or so, and we're many years overdue for an explosion that will fill the atmosphere with ash, blocking the sun and plunging the Earth into a frozen winter that could last up to 15,000 years. The pressure under the Yellowstone is building steadily, and geologists have set 2012 as a likely date for the big bang.

6. The Physicists

This one's case of bog-simple maths mathematics. Physicists at Berekely Uni have been crunching the numbers. and they've determined that the Earth is well overdue for a major catastrophic event. Even worse, they're claiming their calculations prove, that we're all going to die, very soon - while also saying their prediction comes with a certainty of 99 percent- and 2012 just happens to be the best guess as to when it occurs.

7. Slip-Slop-Slap-BANG!

We all know the Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that sheilds us from most of the sun's radiation. What you might not know is that the magnetic poles we call north and south have a nasty habit of swapping places every 750,000 years or so - and right now we're about 30,000 years overdue. Scientists have noted that the poles are drifting apart roughly 20-30kms each year, much faster than ever before, which points to a pole-shift being right around the corner. While the pole shift is underway, the magnetic field is disrupted and will eventually disappear, sometimes for up to 100 years. The result is enough UV outdoors to crisp your skin in seconds, killing everything it touches.






Do You Know How To Make Puris?

Sunday, August 10, 2008

AnnaSophia Robb - Leslie Burk In Bridge To Terabithia!


AnnaSophia Robb

AnnaSophia Robb (pronounced "ah-na"[1]; born December 8, 1993 in Denver, Colorado) is an American film and television actress, and singer. She gained nationwide prominence in 2005 with starring roles in Because of Winn-Dixie and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Biography

Robb is the daughter of Janet and Dave Robb, and named after her maternal great-grandmother, Anna Sophie, and her paternal grandmother, Anna Marie. She enjoys singing, snowboarding, rafting, dancing, and reading, especially fantasy and historical fiction.

She competed in dance and gymnastics for four and a half years, but quit in order to focus on acting. She was once homeschooled but now attends a private school in Colorado and plans to attend college. Robb is a Christian and has said that she is really close with her family.

Career

After starring in a commercial for McDonald's, Robb made her acting debut in 2004 in a bit role in the episode "Number One Fan" of the television series Drake & Josh. Her first major role was as the title character in the television special Samantha: An American Girl Holiday, in which she had to wear a dark brown wig for the part.

Robb's two big-screen appearances in 2005 were both successful adaptations of popular children's books. She had the lead role of Opal in Because of Winn-Dixie and played Violet Beauregarde in Tim Burton's remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The latter was a major box office success worldwide, and helped escalate Robb's popularity among preteen audiences.

The same year Robb was the face of Trad Clothing, helping to design and model a fashion line for girls. In 2006 she had a guest role on the cartoon show Danny Phantom as the voice of Danielle "Dani" Fenton.

Robb played Leslie Burke in Bridge to Terabithia, which opened in U.S. theaters on February 16, 2007. She recorded a song for the soundtrack titled "Keep Your Mind Wide Open", and the accompanying video received rotation on the Disney Channel. The song appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 at #90 during the week of March 1, giving Robb her first charting single. Robb was a fan of the book before even being cast in the role, saying that it "touched me in a way I hadn’t been touched by a book before."

Some of Robb's most recent films included The Reaping, along with Doubting Thomas, Jumper (in which she played the younger version of Rachel Bilson's character), and the 1960s-set drama Have Dreams, Will Travel. In the generally critically-panned film Sleepwalking, Robb received mostly positive reviews; Time film critic Richard Schickel said, "There is a wonderful range to Robb's work...this is extraordinarily mature acting from someone this young and she wins our sympathy without once begging for it."

While filming The Reaping, Robb wrote a short horror story called "Backseat Swamp".

Future roles

Robb will star alongside Dwayne Johnson in Race to Witch Mountain, which will be released in March 2009.

Filmography

Drake & Josh Liza episode (in 2004 as Liza)

Samantha: An American Girl Holiday (in 2004 as Samantha)

Because of Winn-Dixie (in 2005 as India Opal Buloni)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (in 2005 as Violet Beauregarde)

Danny Phantom (in 2006 as Danielle Phantom)

Bridge to Terabithia (in 2007 as Leslie Burks)

The Reaping (in 2007 as Loren McConnell)

Jumper (in 2008 as Young Millie)

Have Dreams, Will Travel (in 2008 as Cassie Kennington)

Sleepwalking (in 2008 as Tara)

Doubting Thomas (in 2008 as Jackie Hoffman)

Race to Witch Mountain (filming in 2008 as Tia Malone)

The White Giraffe (completed in 2008 as  Martine) 




Bridge to Terabithia - Wallpapers Part II








Bridge to Terabithia - Wallpapers!






Phrases and Words Extracted From Terabithia

• Draw Terabithia: Leslie tells Jess, “You should draw a picture of Terabithia for us to hang in the castle.” Jess says, “I can’t. . . . I just can’t get the poetry of the trees.” See if you can get
the poetry of the trees. Draw a picture of Terabithia as you imagine it to be.

• What is a hippie?: Jess’s mom and many of his classmates call Miss Edmunds a hippie. Research what a hippie is, and decide for yourself whether or not Miss Edmunds fits that description. After that, decide whether you think being a hippie is a good or bad thing and why Jess’s parents and his classmates might think it’s a bad thing.

• “Free to Be . . .You and Me”: Find the words to the 1972 song “Free to Be . . .You and Me” that Miss Edmunds sings when she first meets Leslie. Then, make a picture book about the importance of being yourself by using the lyrics and your own illustrations.

• Washington, D.C., landmarks: When Jess is driving into Washington with Miss Edmunds, he recognizes all the landmarks, “looking surprisingly the way the books had pictured them.” Imagine you are planning a trip to Washington. Research the landmarks. Then, make a simple map for yourself showing where these landmarks are in relation to one another. Be sure to include the two places Jess visited: the National Gallery and the Smithsonian.

• Make a trail mix: In Terabithia, Jess and Leslie snack on crackers and dried fruit. You can make your own special snack— a trail mix—to bring with you when you visit your own special place or places. While you can vary the mix based on what you like and have available, here is a basic recipe to get you started: Combine equal parts peanuts and/or any kind of nut you like (just be sure that you and whoever else will be eating the trail mix are not allergic to what you use), dried fruit (such as raisins, dried apricots, dates, figs, prunes), and chocolate candies (chocolate chips and/or M&M’s® work nicely) in an unbreakable container or plastic bag. Carry it to your own special place and enjoy! 

Characterization - Terabithia

Here is a list of the characters in Bridge to Terabithia. Following that, there is a brief description of each of the main characters.

Jesse Aarons a fifth-grade boy

Leslie Burke the new fifth-grade girl
Daddy/Mr. Aarons Jess’s father
Momma/Mrs. Aarons Jess’s mother
May Belle Jess’s six-year-old sister
Ellie, Brenda, and Joyce Ann Jess’s other sisters
Miss Edmunds the music teacher
Mrs. Myers the fifth-grade teacher
Janice Avery a seventh-grade bully
Prince Terrien the puppy Jess gives Leslie
Bill Burke Leslie’s father
Judy Burke Leslie’s mother

Jesse Aarons: Jesse, also called Jess, the main character in

the book, is a ten-year-old boy who feels lost and lonely in a
family and community that, for the most part, does not
understand him. Jess is artistic, sensitive, fearful, kind, and
hardworking.
It is clear from the beginning that Jess wants desperately to
belong. He has gotten up every morning all summer to run so
that when he goes back to school he can be the fastest kid in the
fifth grade. Being the fastest will win him the approval of his
peers; they will stop thinking of Jess as “that crazy little kid that
draws all the time.”
Jess also wants to be fastest to win the approval and attention of
his father. Jess wants and needs his father’s attention. In a house
full of girls—four sisters, two older and two younger, as well as
his mother—Jess feels very lonely. The only family member he
feels at all close to is May Belle, and she’s not even seven.
What Jess loves to do more than anything else is draw. “Jess
drew the way some people drink whiskey. The peace would start
at the top of his muddled brain and seep down through his tired
and tensed-up body.”
Drawing is Jess’s comfort, but it is also what sets him apart.
When he was in first grade and told his father he wanted to be an
artist when he grew up, his father was furious. His teachers, all
but Miss Edmunds, don’t like his drawing either. Because Jess
doesn’t draw traditional subjects—he usually draws animals in
crazy predicaments—the teachers complain that he is wasting
time, talent, and supplies. Even his mother looks at Jess’s
drawing as a waste of time when he should be doing chores.
Because Jess is sensitive, these criticisms hurt. He tries to hide
his love of drawing from everyone but Miss Edmunds and Leslie.
But Jess’s sensitivity is not limited to his own feelings. He
feels sorry for Leslie when she joins his class. “It must be
embarrassing to sit in front when you find yourself dressed
funny on the first day of school. And you don’t know anybody.”
Jess is also sensitive to the people in his family. He gets “mad
at himself for cutting her [May Belle] down,” when he knows she
worships him. And Jess tries to make his father feel good about
the racing-car set he gave Jess for Christmas.
In addition to being very sensitive, Jess is also fearful. He
is afraid of being different, of deep water, of the dark pine forest,
and of Janice Avery, among other things. But during the course
of the book, Jess learns to stand up and face the “whole mob of
foolish little fears running riot inside his gut.”
Jess is also kind. He feels sorry for Janice Avery after he and
Leslie send her a love letter and pretend it’s from Willard Hughes.
And when Leslie says she found Janice crying in the girls’ room,
he talks her into going back in to see what’s wrong with Janice.
Finally, Jess is hardworking. Although his mother calls him lazy,
he seems anything but and is often helping around the house.
In fact, over the course of just one day, Jess milks Miss Bessie,
picks beans and helps his mother can them, then makes himself
and his little sisters peanut butter sandwiches for supper. And he
does all this after having gotten up early to run.

Leslie Burke: Leslie Burke is the other main character in this

book. She is friendly, self-confident, a great runner, bright,
imaginative, and seemingly fearless.
Leslie is nearly ten when she moves to Lark Creek from
Arlington, Virginia. Her parents are both writers, and they moved
to Lark Creek because, as Leslie explains, “they decided they
were too hooked on money and success, so they bought that old
farm and they’re going to farm it and think about what’s
important.” Where Leslie was once surrounded by wealth and
open-mindedness, she is now surrounded by poverty and
narrow-mindedness.
From the moment we first meet her, we see that Leslie is friendly.
She is sitting on a fence watching Jess run. She tells him, “I
thought we might as well be friends. There’s no one else close
by.” Though Jess isn’t interested in being friends at first, Leslie
doesn’t give up.
Leslie’s self-confidence is also evident from the beginning of the
story. She comes to a new school dressed unlike any of the other
students and, despite the fact that they all stare at her, she
doesn’t seem to care. She also has the confidence to join the boys
at recess and race with them. When one of the boys tells her,
“You can run on up to the hopscotch now,” she refuses. “But I
won the heat,” she says. “I want to run.” And run she does,
winning the race.
Leslie is smart. She is such a good student that Mrs. Myers has a
smile just for her, the “Leslie Burke special.” Leslie is also
a wonderful writer and storyteller; her scuba diving essay is so
good that her words “drew Jess with her under the dark water.”
Leslie’s intelligence extends to her understanding of people. From
the beginning, she recognizes Jess as a good person although he
tries not to show it. “You’re the only kid in this whole durned
school who’s worth shooting,” she tells him. She knows what
makes the school bully, Janice Avery, tick, and is the person to
figure out a satisfying form of revenge after Janice steals May
Belle’s Twinkies.
Imagination is one of Leslie’s greatest gifts. It is the spark of
Leslie’s imagination that helps her and Jess escape the narrowmindedness
of the people around them and create a whole new
world for themselves. They are the rulers of Terabithia, and it is
there that they conquer enemies real and imagined; there that
they plot revenge against Janice Avery and use sticks to fight
off giants.
Finally, Leslie is seemingly fearless. She is not afraid of scuba
diving or Janice Avery; of swollen creek beds or dark pine forests.
Leslie’s fearlessness is an inspiration to Jess.

May Belle: May Belle is one of Jess’s younger sisters. “She

was going on seven, and she worshiped him, which was OK
sometimes.” May Belle is the only one of his sisters Jess can
stand to be around. His two older sisters, Ellie and Brenda, are
“cagey girls who managed somehow to have all the fun and leave
him and their mother with all the work.” His youngest sister,
Joyce Ann, “cried if you looked at her cross-eyed.” Jess has a soft
spot for May Belle. “She was a good kid. He really liked old May
Belle.”
May Belle looks up to, and looks out for, Jess. She looks up to
him and encourages him in his running. She thinks he can do
anything, including exact revenge on Janice Avery for stealing
her Twinkies. She looks out for him after Leslie dies by trying to
follow him to Terabithia. “I just wanted to find you, so you
wouldn’t be so lonesome,” she tells him.

Daddy/Mr. Aarons: Jess’s father is a quiet man who works

long hours in faraway Washington, D.C., and has little time or
energy for his son when he gets home from work. He is an oldfashioned
man who has clear ideas regarding what boys and
girls, men and women, should do. When Jess tells him he
wants to be an artist when he grows up, he is very unhappy,
worrying that his son is not manly enough. He worries about
Jess spending so much time playing with a girl. He never hugs
Jess; the only thing he might say to him all day is, “Mighty late
with the milking, aren’t you, son?”
But while he is old-fashioned, Jess’s father is not cold, as he
shows when Leslie dies. He goes after Jess when he runs away,
and carries him back to the truck. He also follows Jess when he
runs down to the creek and throws away all the art supplies
Leslie gave him. He pulls Jess onto his lap and comforts him,
knowing that his son needs his help to get through such a
terrible tragedy.

Momma/Mrs. Aarons: Jess’s mother, like his father, has

specific ideas of what people should and shouldn’t do; she also
has a dread of being treated with disrespect. Her narrowmindedness
is evident in her comments about Miss Edmunds
(“Sounds like some kinda hippie.”), Leslie (“tacky clothes,” hair
“shorter than a boy’s”), and Leslie’s parents (“hardly more than
hippies”). It is also clear in the way she treats Jess’s drawing as
unimportant: “Jesse Oliver!” she yells at him. “Whatcha mean
lying there in the middle of the floor doing nothing anyway?”
We see one example of Mrs. Aarons’s fear of disrespect after Jess
asks if Leslie can go to church with them. “I don’t want no one
poking their nose up at my family,” she says.

Miss Edmunds: Miss Edmunds is the music teacher at Lark

Creek Elementary School. She is young and free-spirited, and
Jess is in love with her. More than her “long swishy black hair
and blue, blue eyes,” Jess’s love is a result of Miss Edmunds’s
encouragement. Miss Edmunds is the only adult who has had
something positive to say about his drawings.
The music teacher is a friend to all students, especially those
who are different. Upon meeting Leslie, she leads the class in
singing “Free to Be . . .You and Me,” encouraging the students to
accept themselves as well as one another. It is this song that
prompts Jess to smile at Leslie, thus beginning their wonderful
friendship.

Imagination - Terabithia

Imagination


The importance of imagination is another theme Paterson weaves
into Bridge to Terabithia. Without imagination, life can be pretty
dreary, which is how Jess’s life is before he meets Leslie. Until
she arrives in Lark Creek, Jess’s only imaginative outlet is
drawing. But when Leslie arrives, she uses her imagination, and
encourages Jess to use his, to create a magical new world where
the two of them can be themselves and so much more.
“He grabbed the end of the rope and swung out toward the other
bank with a kind of wild exhilaration and landed gently on his
feet, taller and stronger and wiser in that mysterious land.”
This imaginative kingdom is not only a place where Jess and
Leslie are taller and stronger, it is also a place where fears are
forgotten: “Between the two of them they owned the world and no
enemy . . . could ever really defeat them.”
When Leslie dies, Jess wonders if the magic is lost, but discovers
that it isn’t—it is still inside him. And it is inside May Belle, too,
though she may not be aware of it until Jess shows it to her: “He
put flowers in her hair and led her across the bridge—the great
bridge into Terabithia—which might look to someone with no
magic in him like a few planks across a nearly dry gully.”

Fear
Fear and learning to accept one’s fears is another important
theme in Bridge to Terabithia. Before he becomes more selfaccepting,
Jess is ashamed of his fears. He is afraid to befriend
Leslie, and when he finally does, he is angry at himself for having
waited. “He smiled at her. What the heck? There wasn’t any
reason he couldn’t. What was he scared of anyhow? Lord.
Sometimes he acted like the original yellow-bellied sapsucker.”
When Jess listens to Leslie’s scuba diving essay, “he could hardly
breathe,” because he can’t swim and is afraid of the water. Again,
he is ashamed. “Lord, he was such a coward. . . . He was worse a
baby than Joyce Ann.”
And when the creek bed fills with water, Jess becomes afraid to
cross it to get to Terabithia. “For Jess the fear of the crossing
rose with the height of the creek.” He doesn’t know what to do.
“It wasn’t so much that he minded telling Leslie that he was
afraid to go; it was that he minded being afraid.”
Jess refuses to let fear get the better of him, though. He decides
he’ll ask Leslie to teach him to swim come summer. “I’ll just
grab that old terror by the shoulders and shake the daylights
out of it.”
But Leslie dies before he can ask her. And Jess wonders if she
was scared. “Did you know you were dying?” he wonders. “Were
you scared like me?”
When May Belle tries to follow him over to Terabithia and nearly
falls in the creek, Jess rescues her. When May Belle tells him she
was scared, he tells her it’s okay. “Everybody gets scared
sometimes, May Belle. You don’t have to be ashamed.”
And as Jess looks to the future, he seems to be more at ease with
his fears. “As for the terrors ahead—for he did not fool himself
that they were all behind him—well, you just have to stand up to
your fear and not let it squeeze you white.”

Caring for others
Another theme in Bridge to Terabithia relates to the importance
of caring for others. We see it especially when Leslie finds Janice
Avery crying in the bathroom, and Jess wants to do something
to help her. “Lord, what was the matter with him? Janice Avery
had given him nothing but trouble, and now he was feeling
responsible for her.” Despite Leslie’s initial reluctance, Jess talks
her into going back into the girls’ room to try to help Janice.
Miss Edmunds also shows the importance of caring for others.
She does this by paying special attention to Jess, encouraging
him in his artwork, and taking him to the National Gallery and
the Smithsonian.
May Belle shows how much she cares when she tries to follow
Jess to Terabithia, even after he hit her in the face. “I just wanted
to find you,” she tells him, “so you wouldn’t be so lonesome.”

Giving
The value of giving and giving back is another theme that runs
through this book. One of the first and most natural places we
see this giving is at Christmastime. Jess wants to give Leslie
the perfect gift. “It was not that she would expect something
expensive; it was that he needed to give her something as much
as he needed to eat when he was hungry.”
Jess does find the perfect gift for Leslie—a puppy. And she gives
him a wonderful gift of paper, brushes, and paint in return.
We also see the value of giving when Jess goes over his budget to
give May Belle the Barbie that she wants for Christmas. Later,
when Jess thinks about doing something nice for Mrs. Myers, he
tells the reader, “Sometimes like the Barbie doll you need to give
people something that’s for them, not just something that makes
you feel good giving it.”
When Jess realizes all that Leslie has given him, he feels that he
must find a way to reciprocate. “It was up to him to pay back to
the world in beauty and caring what Leslie had loaned him in
vision and strength.” One way he does this is by building a bridge
and leading May Belle into Terabithia.

Death
Another important theme in Bridge to Terabithia is death. Jess
must learn to accept his best friend’s death, despite feeling that
“Leslie could not die any more than he himself could die.”
Jess reacts to the news of Leslie’s death with shock, selfishness,
anger, and grief. At first, Jess does not believe his father when he
tells him that Leslie has died: “No! I don’t believe you. You’re
lying to me!”
When Jess goes to see Leslie’s parents, he finds himself filled
with conflicted emotions. He feels briefly elated to think “he was
the only person his age he knew whose best friend had died. It
made him important.” He feels annoyed at all the adults crying
around him: “They weren’t crying for Leslie. They were crying for
themselves.” And he feels angry, angry that Leslie’s parents
brought her here in the first place.
Jess is also angry at Leslie. “She had tricked him. She had made
him leave his old self behind and come into her world, and then
. . . she had left him stranded there.” He flings the paper and
paints she had given him for Christmas into the creek, crying
out, “I hate her. I hate her. I wish I’d never seen her in my whole
life.” When his father pulls Jess onto his lap and tells him, “Hell,
ain’t it,” Jess finds it “strangely comforting.”

Friendship - Terabithia


 “For the first time in his life, he got up every morning with something to look forward to. Leslie was more than his friend. She was his other, more exciting self—his way to Terabithia and all the worlds beyond.” — Bridge to Terabithia

Friendship

The value of friendship is one of the major themes in Bridge to Terabithia. It is through friendship that Jess and Leslie are able to accept themselves, feel a sense of belonging, and grow. Before Jess meets Leslie, he feels all alone in the world. His father works long hours and is too tired to pay much attention to him when he is home. He has his mother and four sisters, but “sometimes he felt so lonely among all those females.” At school, Jess has no real friends, except for Miss Edmunds, the music teacher. So when Leslie moves in, Jess is ripe for friendship. But initially Jess is not interested in being Leslie’s friend. First off, she’s a girl. And not only that, she’s a girl who “had no notion of what you did and didn’t do,” as she proves when she joins the boys for races at recess. Jess doesn’t appreciate Leslie for being herself, despite the fact that he is so often torn between being himself—a sensitive boy who loves to draw—and being what others expect him to be. It isn’t until music class that first week of school that Jess reveals his real self and smiles at Leslie in a way that tells her he wants to be friends. Leslie enriches Jess’s life in ways he could never have imagined. She encourages him to use his imagination in ways that go far beyond drawing. She tells Jess stories and lends him books. She believes in him. When Leslie tells Jess, “You should draw a picture of Terabithia for us to hang in the castle,” Jess responds, “I can’t. . . . I just can’t get the poetry of the trees.” Leslie reassures him, “Don’t worry. You will someday.”

In return, Jess gives Leslie the comfort of his friendship, which helps her survive in a world that is far different from the one she left behind. Jess also teaches Leslie about caring for others. When she finds Janice Avery crying in the girls’ room and doesn’t want to do anything to help her, Jess says, “You’re the one who’s always telling me I gotta care.”

Accepting differences
Bridge to Terabithia is also about being different and accepting your differences as well as those of others. Jess is different from the people around him. He likes to draw and wants to be an artist when he grows up. But many in Jess’s community do not respect art; even his father thinks being an artist is not very manly. In the beginning of the story, Jess tries to hide his differences. In one instance, when Mrs. Myers asks the class to write a paper about their favorite hobby, “Jess had written about football, which he really hated, but he had enough brains to know that if he said drawing, everyone would laugh at him.” But then Jess meets Leslie, who is also different, but is accepting of her differences as well as those of others. Leslie shows her comfort with who she is when she joins the boys for races during recess. Leslie loves to run and doesn’t care if only boys have run in the past. At first, Jess is annoyed by the way Leslie marches to the beat of her own drummer. “Lord,” he thinks, “the girl had no notion of what you did and didn’t do.” It is Miss Edmunds, Jess’s “fellow outlaw,” who helps Jess accept Leslie, and they both help Jess accept himself. When Miss Edmunds sings “Free to Be . . .You and Me” after meeting Leslie, Jess finds himself smiling at Leslie. Later, when the two are best friends, Jess must listen to the taunts of his sisters and his schoolmates about having a “girl friend.” Even his mother and father disapprove of him spending so much time with a girl. But Jess doesn’t care. He is learning to accept who he is.

Time And Place Of Terabithia Plot

 “In the shadowy light of the stronghold everything seemed possible.” — Bridge to Terabithia

Time: When does the story take place?

Bridge to Terabithia is a contemporary novel, meaning it was written about the current time period. Since it was published more than twenty-five years ago, however, it is not contemporary
to today’s readers. We can see that the story is set in the mid-1970s in a number of ways. One of these is through a comment about the “recent” Vietnam War, which actually ended in 1975. Also, during the 1960s and 1970s there was a great deal of protest against the United States’ involvement in that war. People who supported the war sometimes called those who opposed it “peaceniks.” This is a name that some of the children in the book call Miss Edmunds. “Hippie,” another name Jess’s mom and some of the children call Miss Edmunds, also places the book in the 1970s. “Hippie” is a word that was commonly used at that time to describe a person who did not dress and act as most people did, and Miss Edmunds definitely stood out from the rest of Jess’s community. Jess notes that the kids “make fun of Miss Edmunds’s lack of lipstick or the cut of her jeans,” which made her different from the other women—female teachers or parents—they knew. Comments about fashion help show when the story takes place. We learn that Miss Edmunds was the only female teacher at Lark Creek Elementary who wore pants. Today it is common for women to wear pants, but at the time the book was written, it was still unusual, especially outside of big cities.

Place: Where are we?

The book is set in a fictional rural Virginia town. Paterson created the town, which she calls Lark Creek, based on her memories of living and teaching sixth grade for one year in rural Lovettsville, Virginia. “I have to know about a place before I write a story that is set in that place,” Paterson has said. What is Lark Creek like? It is a rural, poor, and, in many ways, a narrow-minded place. It is also a place containing great physical beauty, for those willing to see it. Paterson establishes the rural setting in a number of ways. She begins the book with Jess running in his family’s cow field. Milking the cow is one of Jess’s chores. Another is picking beans from the bean patch and helping his mother can them. These are all activities that take place in a rural setting. The author tells us more about the rural setting when she describes Jess’s father’s long ride back and forth to Washington, D.C., where he works digging and hauling all day. Mr. Aarons’s ride is so long because the family lives in the country, many, many miles from the city. While rural places are not always poor, that is sometimes the case. As Jess tells Leslie, “You can’t make a go of a farm nowadays, you know. My dad has to go to Washington to work, or we wouldn’t have enough money. . . .” When Leslie tells him that money is not a problem for her family, Jess is surprised. “He did not know people for whom money was not the problem.”

It is clear that money is a problem for Jess’s family. His house is so small that Jess shares a bedroom with his two younger sisters. Jess’s worn sneakers, his one pair of corduroy pants, and his lack of boots show the reader how tight money is. When Jess draws, he uses whatever paper and pencils he can get hold of. But he dreams of more. “Lord, what he wouldn’t give for a new pad or real art paper and a set of those marking pens.” As Christmas approaches, the stress of not having enough money puts a strain on the entire family. Jess worries about what he can give Leslie: “His dad had told him he would give him a dollar for each member of the family, but even if he cheated on the family presents, there was no way he could get from that enough to buy Leslie anything worth giving her.” Most people in Lark Creek are as poor as the Aaronses. The lack of money in the town is evident at Jess’s school. Lark Creek Elementary is so crowded that Jess’s class of thirty-one students is jammed into a small basement room, music is held in the teachers’ room, and there is no gym. In addition, the school is short on supplies, “especially athletic equipment, so all the balls went to the upper grades at recess time after lunch.” That’s why Jess and the other lower-grade boys take up running during recess: It’s a sport that doesn’t require any special equipment. Paterson shows us Lark Creek’s prejudices when she tells us how angry Jess’s father was when Jess told him he wanted to be an artist when he grew up. “Bunch of old ladies turning my only son into some kind of a—,” he said. And even though he stopped on the word, “Jess had gotten the message. It was one you didn’t forget.” Jess’s family and schoolmates are just as narrow-minded about his friendship with Leslie as they are about his love of drawing. His older sisters call Leslie Jess’s “girl friend” and his mother says that she is sure Jess’s father is “fretting that his only son did nothing but play with girls, and they both were worried about what would come of it.” Jess and Leslie cope with the narrowness of the world around them by creating their own imaginary kingdom, where they are king and queen. They build Terabithia’s stronghold in the woods beyond the creek behind Leslie’s house. While the woods are there for all to enjoy, only Jess and Leslie seem to appreciate their beauty and magic. “As a regular thing, as a permanent place, this was where he would choose to be,” Jess thinks of the spot where they build their stronghold. “Here where the dogwood and redbud played hide and seek between the oaks and evergreens, and the sun flung itself in golden streams through the trees to splash warmly at their feet.”

Bridge to Terabithia!


“ ‘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. . . . It might be a whole secret country. . . and you and I would be the rulers of it.’” —Leslie, Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge to Terabithia is a story of true friendship and tragic loss. Ten-year-olds Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke live in a world that often doesn’t understand them. When Leslie moves to Jess’s town, the two become best friends and create a magical place where they help each other grow strong. Jess must later call on his newfound strength to help him cope with Leslie’s tragic death.

The book begins as summer is winding down. Jess awakens early to go out and run in the cow field. Jess has been working hard to make sure that he will be the fastest runner in the fifth grade.

For one day last year, Jess had been “the fastest kid in the third, fourth, and fifth grades” at Lark Creek Elementary. Jess enjoyed beating everyone in the race because it made people look at him differently. Up until that day, he’d been “that crazy little kid that draws all the time.” Jess loves to draw, but almost no one in his family or community respects his ability. Being the fastest runner is a way for Jess to earn everyone’s respect. The next morning, Jess meets Leslie Burke. She tells him, “I thought we might as well be friends. There’s no one else close by.” The next time Jess sees Leslie close-up is the first day of school. Like him, she is in Mrs. Myers’s fifth-grade class. Leslie is wearing faded cutoffs, a blue undershirt, and sneakers, but no socks. Everyone else is dressed in his or her Sunday best. During recess, the boys gather to race. Jess is surprised when Leslie Burke comes up beside him and asks him if he’s running. “Later,” he says, refusing to look at her, hoping “she would go back to the upper field where she belonged.” But Leslie stays and Jess asks Leslie if she wants to run. “Sure,” she says, grinning. “Why not?” He tells her she can run in the fourth heat with him. As Jess watches the first three heats, he is more and more confident that he will be the fastest kid in fifth grade. Then it is time for the fourth heat. Jess is running hard when he feels, then sees, someone moving up beside him, then pulling ahead. “The faded cutoffs crossed the line a full three feet ahead of him.” The only consolation to this disappointing start of school is Miss Edmunds’s visit to Lark Creek Elementary on Friday. Jess watches as the music teacher greets Leslie with a smile and begins singing “Free to Be . . .You and Me.” Jess turns to Leslie and smiles at her. Leslie smiles back. And Jess “felt there in the teachers’ room that it was the beginning of a new season in his life.”


One day after school, Jess and Leslie are taking turns swinging on a rope across a dry creek bed when Leslie has an idea. “We need a place,” she says, “just for us. It would be so secret that we would never tell anyone in the whole world about it.” She goes on to say that it might be a whole secret country and that she and Jess would be its rulers. And so they create Terabithia, a magic kingdom in the woods that can be reached only by swinging across the creek bed on the enchanted rope. Jess and Leslie both think it is perfect. “In the shadowy light of the stronghold everything seemed possible.” Jess and Leslie are soon spending nearly all their free time together. Jess’s older sisters and his classmates tease him about hanging around with a girl. His parents worry about their only son playing with only girls. But Jess doesn’t care what these people say. “For the first time in his life he got up every morning with something to look forward to. Leslie was more than his friend. She was his other, more exciting self—his way to Terabithia and all the worlds beyond.” As winter turns to spring, Jess and Leslie continue going to Terabithia, but Jess does so with increasing unease. All March it poured, and for the first time in many years there is water in the creek bed, “enough so that when they swung across, it was a little scary looking down at the rushing water below.” It is raining on Easter Monday, but Jess and Leslie go to Terabithia anyway. When they see how high the stream is, Jess suggests that they forget about going over. But Leslie wants to go. “C’mon, Jess. We can make it,” she says. And they do. The next morning Jess wakes filled with anxiety about the creek and about telling Leslie that he doesn’t want to cross it.

“It wasn’t so much that he minded telling Leslie that he was afraid to go; it was that he minded being afraid.” Then, Miss Edmunds calls and asks him to go to Washington with her, to visit the Smithsonian or the National Gallery. Jess is thrilled. After they are on their way, Jess thinks that he might have asked Miss Edmunds if Leslie could have come. When Jess gets home from his perfect day with Miss Edmunds, his mother sobs and cries out, “O my God. O my God,” when she sees him. “Your girl friend’s dead,” Brenda says, “and Momma thought you was dead, too.” His father explains that they found Leslie in the creek that morning. “That old rope you kids been swinging on broke,” he says. “They think she musta hit her head on something when she fell.”

At first, Jess refuses to believe him. When he does accept the truth, however, he is very angry at Leslie for leaving him. The next day, Jess uses a large branch to cross over to Terabithia. He wants to do something to mourn Leslie’s death. He makes a funeral wreath and solemnly carries it to the sacred grove. “Father,” he says, “into Thy hands I commend her spirit.” Then Jess hears his sister May Belle crying for help. She tried to follow him to Terabithia, but froze in fear halfway across the tree branch Jess had put across the creek. Jess slowly helps her across. When May Belle tells Jess how she got scared, Jess tells her that’s okay. “Everybody gets scared sometimes,” he says. “You don’t have to be ashamed.” Jess comes to believe “that perhaps Terabithia was like a castle where you came to be knighted. After you stayed for a while and grew strong, you had to move on.” He decides it is time for him to move on. “It was up to him to pay back to the world in beauty and caring what Leslie had loaned him in vision and strength.” Jess begins doing this by building a bridge to Terabithia. When he is finished, he puts flowers in May Belle’s hair and leads her across the bridge, telling her that all the Terabithians are standing on tiptoe to see her. “There’s a rumor going around that the beautiful girl arriving today might be the queen they’ve been waiting for,” Jess tells her.


About Bridge to Terabithia - An Interview With Katherine Paterson.


Katherine Paterson - In Her Own Words.

You wrote Bridge to Terabithia after your eight-year-old son’s best friend, Lisa Hill, was struck and killed by lightning. How did writing this book help you? How do you think this book might help others?


Lisa’s death made no sense to me. It was tragic, totally unexpected, devastating. I did what writers often do when they can’t make sense out of life. I tried to shape my question into a story. Stories have to make sense—not in a logical, reasonable sense so much as an emotional sense. The ending has to somehow clarify for the reader (and first, the writer) the beginning and middle.
Terabithia was Jess and Leslie’s secret place. You’ve said that you had lots of Terabithias as a child, and that now your secret place is inside of you. Why do you think people need secret places?

My feeling is that if you don’t have a secret place—a place where your imagination can run wild and you can ask yourself any question with no one censoring your thoughts—it’s hard to grow either spiritually or intellectually. You may just keep trying to be and think what those around you seem to want. Bridge to Terabithia has been criticized by some for its profanity and disrespect for adults, and was on People for the American Way’s list of challenged books four times in the 1990s. What do you say to the people who want to remove this book from classrooms and libraries?

Well, first, I’d hope they would read the whole book for themselves with as open a mind as possible. Then I would ask that they leave the book for the many people who have read it and found profound comfort in it. I don’t think they would have been able to find that comfort if Jesse Aarons had not seemed real to them. He speaks like children I have known in that part of the world. I tried to be true to the child he was, not make him an example of proper language or behavior. 

You used the Japanese word banzai, which means “hooray!” and “live forever,” in the dedication of Bridge to Terabithia. Why did you choose this word?

Because when I thought of the friendships between David and Lisa and Jess and Leslie that is how I felt.

Bridge To Terabithia - Katherine Paterson, The Writer


“I write as a way to struggle with the questions life throws at me. I write for the young because we seem to be wrestling with the same questions.” —Katherine Paterson (1999)

Katherine Paterson, one of the most admired and honored children’s-book authors today, did not grow up thinking she would one day be a writer. “I loved books,” she has said, “and I read a great deal, but I never imagined that I might write them.” Katherine Paterson was born on October 31, 1932, in Huayin (formerly Qing Jiang), China. Her parents, George and Mary Womeldorf, were in China working as missionaries, doing religious and charitable work, on behalf of the Presbyterian Church. Words were important to Paterson from the beginning. “My mother read to us regularly,” she has said, “and because it opened up such a wonderful world, I taught myself to read before I entered school. Soon afterwards I began to write.” When war broke out between China and Japan in 1937, Katherine and her family were forced to leave China. They relocated to North Carolina. Between the ages of five and eighteen, she moved eighteen times and attended thirteen different schools. “I remember the many schools I attended in those years mostly as places where I felt fear and humiliation. I was small, poor, and foreign. . . . I was a misfit both in the classroom and on the playground,” Paterson has said. The author remembers that when she was in first grade she came home from school on February 14 without a single valentine. Years later, her mother asked her why she never wrote a story about the time she didn’t get any valentines. Paterson recalls responding, “But, Mother, all my stories are about the time I didn’t get any valentines.” Memories of being left out are woven throughout Paterson’s writing. When Katherine was in fifth grade she earned her classmates’ respect by writing plays for them to act out. She still didn’t want to be a writer, however. “When I was ten,” Paterson has said, “I wanted to be either a movie star or a missionary.” Katherine graduated from high school in 1950 and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in English literature from King College in Bristol, Tennessee, in 1954. She then taught sixth grade for one year in rural Lovettsville, Virginia (the future setting of Bridge to Terabithia), before going on to earn a master’s degree in Christian education. During graduate school, a teacher suggested to Paterson that she ought to become a writer. “I was appalled,” she remembers. “‘I don’t want to add another mediocre writer to the world,’ I said.”


The teacher told her that if she wasn’t willing to risk mediocrity, she would never accomplish anything. But Katherine didn’t pursue writing. Instead, following in her parents’ footsteps, she became a missionary. A friend suggested she go to Japan, and Paterson ended up falling in love with the people and the country. In fact, she set her first children’s novels in Japan. In 1961 she went back to school at Union Theological Seminary in New York City for further study in Christian education. There Katherine met and fell in love with a fellow student, John Paterson, a Presbyterian minister. The couple married in 1962, and Katherine Paterson received her second master’s degree in religious education that same year. Paterson taught at the Pennington School for Boys in Pennington, New Jersey, until her first son was born in 1964. The Paterson family grew quickly: Within several years, the Patersons had one more son and adopted two daughters. The year of her first child’s birth was also the year Paterson accepted her first professional assignment as a writer. She was asked to create Sunday school curriculum units for the Presbyterian Church. Paterson has said, “I became a writer . . . without ever formulating the ambition to become one. When the curriculum assignment was completed, I turned to fiction, because that is what I most enjoy reading.” Paterson didn’t become an overnight success. “I didn’t know that wanting to write fiction and being able to write fiction were two quite separate things,” she has said. “In the cracks of time between feedings, diapering, cooking, reading aloud, walking to the park, . . . I wrote and wrote, and published practically nothing.” Paterson does not feel the time was wasted. “All those years when I couldn’t sell my stories,” she has said, “I was learning how to write.” Paterson’s persistence proved that practice makes perfect, or pretty close. 

In 1973 she published her first novel, The Sign of the Chrysanthemum. In 1977 her third book, The Master Puppeteer, won the National Book Award in Children’s Literature. Paterson’s fourth and most popular book, Bridge to Terabithia, was published in 1977 and won the 1978 John Newbery Medal. Since then, Paterson has written more than thirty books. She has twice won both the National Book Award and the American Library Association’s John Newbery Medal. And in 1998 the International Board on Books for Young People awarded Paterson the Hans Christian Andersen Medal—considered the world’s most prestigious award in children’s literature. Paterson lives in Barre, Vermont, with her husband of more than forty years. What does she do in her free time? “I love to read,” Paterson has said. “I love to sing. I play both the piano and tennis badly, but still like to do them. I have a wonderful family.” And, happily, she continues to write. “My gift seems to be that I am one of those fortunate people who can, if she works hard at it, uncover a story that children will enjoy.”

“Our son David’s best friend . . . was struck and killed by lightning. It was trying to make sense of that tragedy that inspired me to write the book.” —Katherine Paterson

The year 1974 was a difficult one for the Paterson family. In the spring, Katherine Paterson was diagnosed with cancer. She had a successful operation to remove the tumor, but the experience frightened her and her family. They hadn’t yet recovered from this brush with death when eight-year-old David Paterson’s best friend, Lisa Hill, was struck and killed by lightning. “The two events were almost more than we could bear,” Paterson has said. So when she went to a meeting of children’s-book writers and publishers in Washington, D.C., and someone asked her how her children were, she didn’t answer with her usual “Fine.” Instead, she poured out the tragic tale of Lisa Hill’s death and her son David’s grief. When she finished the story, a book editor said, “I know this sounds just like an editor, but you ought to write that story.”

Not sure what else to do, Paterson began writing. “I wrote Bridge to Terabithia because I couldn’t do anything else,” she has said. “Of course, if I could’ve done anything I wanted to do, I would’ve brought Lisa back from the dead. But I couldn’t do that, and I couldn’t even comfort my son, who was totally distraught. So I did what writers often do when they can’t do what they really want to do. They write a story to make sense of something that doesn’t make sense. . . . So that’s why I began to write the book. And people always want me to say that it comforted my son, but no, it was really for me.” Paterson wrote quickly at first, dozens and dozens of pages. But
then one day, she says, she found herself “totally frozen. The time had come for my fictional child to die, and I could not let it happen.”

Paterson put the book aside until a friend asked how it was coming along. “I can’t let her die,” Paterson told her friend. “I can’t face going through Lisa’s death again.” “Katherine,” her friend said, “I don’t think it’s Lisa’s death you can’t face, it’s yours.” Hearing those words gave Paterson the push she needed to finish the book. “If it was my death I could not face,” she said, “then by God, I would face it.” Within a few weeks, Paterson had finished the first draft of the book. “I discovered gradually and not without a little pain that you don’t put together a bridge for a child. You become one—you lay yourself across the chasm,” Paterson has said. “In writing this book, I have thrown my body across the chasm that most terrified me.”

Paterson hopes Bridge to Terabithia will help children deal with death by giving them practice before it actually happens. “I feel that Bridge is kind of a rehearsal that you go through to mourn somebody’s death that you care about,” Paterson has said. While Bridge to Terabithia got its start in fact, Paterson has told her readers it is entirely fiction. “Bridge is loosely based on my son’s friendship and the death of his friend. But the resemblance stops there because they [David and Jess, Lisa and Leslie] are very different people. Their families are different. They live in a different place. So it is fiction and not fact, but it grew out of a real incident.”