History Characters / BridgeToTerabithia

* AcademicAthlete: Has inherited her parents intellectual tendencies and excels at her schoolwork, but is also a superb runner and generally enjoys outdoor activities.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the 2007 film she's more cute than either her plainer book version or bookish 1985 version.

* AgeLift: In the 2007 film she's aged-up from 10 to 12.

** In the 1985 adaptation Leslie is more androgynous than boyish looking thanks to her longer haircut.

* GuiltComplex: He didn't tell Leslie about the trip to the museum due to his crush on Miss Edmunds, wanting to spend time with her alone. [[spoiler: [[ForWantOfANail If he’d told her,]] Leslie would’ve likely come along and wouldn’t have died.]]

* CatchPhrase: Gary always calls Jesse "Dead Meat". In Terabithia, this is translated in the form of a [[StealthPun hairy vulture]] that's constantly squawking "DEAD MEAT!"

* LazyBum: They have a knack for talking their way out of household chores. When their mother wants them to help her pick beans, Ellie says she'd already told their friend Lollie that Mrs. Aarons had said she and Brenda could go with her to Millsburg for school shopping and that she'd feel dumb calling Lollie and saying that Mrs. Aarons had changed her mind.

* LazyBum: They have a knack for talking their way out of household chores. When their mother wants them to help her pick beans, Ellie says she'd already told their friend Lollie that Mrs. Aarons had said they could go with her to Millsburg for school shopping and that she'd feel dumb calling Lollie and saying that Mrs. Aarons had changed her mind.

* MovingBeyondBereavement: The final story arc of the novel deals with Jesse dealing with the grief of losing [[spoiler: Leslie Burke]]. For most of the remaining chapters, Jess is shown dealing with the FiveStagesOfGrief in a realistic way, refusing to acknowledge the death and thinking the departed is still around - to the point that the Disney 2007 adaptation added a scene where Jess finally snaps and punches a bully who teased him over the incident. However, by the final scene, Jess realizes he still has his younger sister, May Belle, who supports him no matter what, and finally decides to move on with his life.

** In the book, he's a lot more critical of Jess being into art, thinking of it as a feminine activity. In the 2007 movie, presumably due to ValuesDissonance, this is dropped completely save for a moment where he doesn't scold May Belle for drawing in Jess's sketchbook and a KickTheDog moment where he mocks his hobby when he loses his keys.
** In the book, Jess mentions that his dad beats him like most dads do. This being the '60's, it was FairForItsDay, so this is removed in the 2007 movie adaptation.

!! Mr. Burke

* BaitAndSwitch: In the film adaptation, after Jess punches Hoager for [[spoiler:making fun of Leslie's death]], she pulls Jess out into the hall. After everything we had seen of her so far, it seems that she's about to harshly lecture him for being violent in spite of the circumstances, but instead [[spoiler:she sympathizes with him, relating to him about her husband's death and giving him words of comfort.]]
* EveryoneHasStandards: She spends most of the book being an all-around stick-in-the-mud until the last chapter when she gives Jess the story of her husband.

* AdaptationDyeJob: A double case of this trope. Is blond in the book, but in the two movies he is a redhead in the former and a brunette in the latter.

* AdaptationDyeJob: The 2007 film changes Leslie from brown haired to blonde haired.

* GuiltComplex: He didn't tell Leslie about the trip to the museum due to his crush on Ms. Edmunds, wanting to spend time with her alone. [[spoiler: [[ForWantOfANail If he’d told her,]] Leslie would’ve likely come along and wouldn’t have died.]]

* MovingBeyondBereavement: The final story arc of the novel deals with Jesse dealing with the grief of losing [[spoiler: Leslie Burke]]. For most of the remaining chapters, Jess is shown dealing with the FiveStagesOfGrief in a realistic way, refusing to acknowledge the death and thinking the departed is still still around - to the point that the Disney 2007 adaptation added a scene where Jess finally snaps and beats up a bully who teased him over the incident. However, by the final scene, Jess realizes he still has his younger sister, Maybelle, who supports him no matter what, and finally decides to move on with his life.

* TeacherStudentRomance: He has a one-sided crush on Ms. Edmunds.
* TookALevelInKindness: Is shown to be sort of rude to May Belle, to the point that he [[spoiler:angrily hits her when she asks him if Leslie’s body was laid out.]] However, by the end of the story, he has learned that he should be treating his young sister with kindness.

* OutnumberedSibling: He is the only male in the Aarons siblings.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Mrs Aarons in the book disapproves of Leslie and her "hippie" family and isn't keen on having her around; [[SocietyMarchesOn in the film]] however she's much warmer and seems happy that Jesse has a friend.

* SelfMadeWoman: Is a HippieParent and writes stories reflecting her views.

* AdaptationalDyeJob: Is implied to be blonde in the book, but has brown hair in the 2007 movie.

* AdaptationalDyeJob: Is implied to be blonde in the book, but Has brown hair in the 2007 movie.
* MamaBear: [[spoiler: When Ellie is casually talking about Leslie’s death the morning after in front of Jesse, Mrs. Aaron’s angrily tells her to knock it off and stop making Jesse sad.]]

->'''Played by:''' Annette O'Toole (1985) Creator/ZooeyDeschanel (2007)

* ParentalFavoritism: Jess thinks his father favors his daughters (specifically [[BabyOfTheBunch Maybelle]]) over him, since he dotes more on them while he seems more rough with him. In one example, he tucks in Maybelle for the night but only tells Jess to turn his light off.

* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: [[spoiler:When invited to the museum by his teacher, he doesn’t ask her if he can bring Leslie along with them. In the book, he forgets as they are already on the road, in the movie, he hesitates before deciding to not bring her up as they pass by her house. When he comes home, he finds out that Leslie died that morning after going to the creek without him.]]

* FreakOut: [[spoiler:The moment when he finds out about Leslie’s death, he feels as if the wind was knocked out of him, and had trouble speaking at first.]]

* ItsAllJunk: [[spoiler:After Leslie’s funeral, he goes back home to get his art supplies that the Burke family gave to him. He throws them all down the river, not wanting to have anything to do with them anymore. Because his family is poor, he regrets this decision and tries to look back for them, but cannot find them.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: He regrets hitting May Belle in the face. He wants to apologize to her, but he doesn’t know how. It’s only when he [[spoiler:saves her from falling off a log into the river that he does.]]

* RageBreakingPoint: [[spoiler:He tries to keep calm during Leslie’s funeral while the others are crying. But when he finds out that her family decided to have her body cremated instead of buried, he ditches the rest of the event and goes home, crying himself.]]

* BrattyTeenageDaughter : Both.
* BrutalHonesty: [[spoiler: In the book, Jesse has just got home and she immediately spills the beans to him about Leslie’s death.]]

* ComedicUnderwearExposure: When Jesse is getting ready on the day [[spoiler:in which Leslie died]], May Belle wakes up and asks Jesse to comfort her. While he’s talking to her, Jesse stares at her while she’s only in her underwear. She throws her jeans in his face and tells him to stop looking at her like that when she has almost no clothes on.