Bridge to Terabithia is a story about the power of imagination. Jess, a young boy who lives on a farm, befriends Leslie, a new student at his school. Leslie teaches Jess about imagination and how she uses it in her writing at school for her essays. The pair become closer and eventually create a completely imagined world called Terabithia which we see on screen through their imaginations.
The film captures the importance of a child's imagination on multiple levels such as the ability of it to spring up creativity within them, and also as a way to escape the harshness of reality which we see through the bullying and abuse in Janice's storyline. We see the reality that children must face very adult issues far too young in life and their imagination, used wisely, can allow them to heal and move forward in a healthy way. This is a gift then that Leslie has unlocked for Jess within him. This is something that has always been apart of him, but which he now wields.
All of this comes to a crashing halt when Leslie drowns in the creek while Jess is on a field trip with Ms. Edmunds. This is a pivotal moment for Jess as he could forsake his imagination forever as Terabithia is a place he created with Leslie, and now that she is gone there could seem to be no use in continuing to allow his imagination to create in a place so closely connected to her. But, he chooses to return to Terabithia, even inviting his sister May Belle to become a princess in the land he once ruled with Leslie. Jess has chosen hope in the midst of great tragedy, something that is very mature for such a young boy to do which leads us to see that his imagination has created in him a perseverance and capacity that goes beyond the realm of Terabithia and into his actual life.
