IMPORTANT: Comprehension questions will be in chronological order as you read through the story. Page numbers are approximate, and will vary with different editions of the book.
Section 1: Chapters 1-3
Vocabulary
Hypocritical: behaving in a way that suggests one has higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case
Pandemonium: wild and noisy disorder or confusion
Peculiar: strange, odd or unusual
Proverbial: a word or phrase referred to in a proverb or idiom
Quivered: a slight trembling movement or sound; to tremble or shake with a slight rapid movement
Repulsive: arousing intense distaste or disgust
Comprehension Questions
Jess doesn’t worry about wearing shoes when he runs as the bottom of his feet are tough. (pg. 1)
May Belle is going on seven years old and she worships Jess. (pg. 2)
In the last year Jess has won only one race. (pg. 4)
Jess’s mother is from Georgia. (pg. 7)
In the bean patch May Belle tells Jesse that people are moving into the old Perkin house. (pg. 10)
May Belle hopes that the family next door has a girl aged either six or seven years old so that she will have someone to play with. (pg. 11)
Jess mostly loves to draw animals, not ordinary ones, but crazy ones like a hippopotamus. (pg. 12)
At school Miss Edmunds is one of Jess’s secrets. (pg. 14)
The only thing Jess’s father says to him in the evening is that he was milking the cow late. (pg. 20)
On the first day of school all of the kids are dressed in their spring Sunday best. (pg. 24)
As Leslie stands in front of the class her eyes say, “OK, friends, here I am.” She is unconcerned about how differently she is dressed. (pg. 24)
According to the upper grades the only time that Mrs. Myers ever smiles is on the first and last days of school. (pg. 25)
As Mrs. Myers hands out books Jess toys with the idea of doing a whole book of drawings. (pg. 26)
At school the children eat lunch at their desks. (pg. 29)
Section 2: Chapters 4-6
Vocabulary
Angelic: exceptionally beautiful, innocent or kind
Consolation: comfort received by a person after a loss or disappointment
Foundling: an infant that has been abandoned by its parents and is discovered and raised by others
Scrawling: something written or drawn in a hurried careless way
Sneer: a contemptuous or mocking smile, remark, or tone
Solemn: formal, dignified; not cheerful or smiling; characterized by deep sincerity
Comprehension Questions
It is Leslie’s fault that running is no longer fun. (pg. 37)
Miss Edmunds normal speaking voice bubbles up from deep inside her and is rich and melodic. (pg. 38)
Mrs. Myers reads Leslie’s paper on scuba diving aloud. (pg. 42)
When Leslie throws her head back while surrounded by friends he can tell that they are making fun of her. (pg. 45)
The old crab apple tree is in an dried creek bed and a rope hangs from its branches. (pg. 49)
If you look up while swinging on the rope across the gully its feels as though you are floating. (pg. 49)
Leslie names the secret land that she and Jess have made in the woods Terabithia. (pg. 51)
During the first hours of school Jess and Leslie try to avoid each other so that no-one knows about their friendship. (pg. 55)
Leslie takes the sleeping bags that they kept at the castle back to the Burke’s because her father notices that they are missing. (pg. 57)
Jess tells Leslie that she is more than a friend to him, she is his other more exciting self. (pg. 59)
Jess and Leslie know that the real giant in their lives is Janice Avery. (pg. 61)
When Janice Avery and her friends stand outside the girl’s room they make the little girls give up their milk money before they are allowed to go into the bathroom. (pg. 61)
After Janice Avery steals May Belle’s Twinkies, Leslie and Jess plan revenge on her by making her look a fool over a love letter. (pg. 65)
When Jess and Leslie are crouched in the stronghold of Terabithia they
Section 3: Chapters 7-9
Vocabulary
Clambered: to climb, move, to get in or out of something in an awkward and laborious way, typically by using both hands and feet
Complacent: showing smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one’s achievements
Flounce: go or move in an exaggeratedly impatient or angry manner
Inclined: favorably willing or disposed toward an action or belief
Obliged: to feel legally or morally bound to an action or a course of action
Sporadically: occasionally or at irregular intervals
Comprehension Questions
Jess can’t go to Terabithia alone because it needed the magic that Leslie brought to it. (pg. 83)
When Jess sneaks down to the Perkins house he sometimes sees Prince Terrien crying on the porch. (pg. 85)
Jess’s feelings about Leslie’s father poke up like a canker sore, which you keep biting on and make worse. (pg. 86)
Jess, Leslie and Bill come upon the rusty bricks in the fireplace while ripping off the boards that covered the fireplace. (pg. 88)
Jess, Leslie and Bill paint the Burke’s living room gold. (pg. 88)
Terabithia was made for just Jess and Leslie. (pg. 89)
Leslie says that she and Jess have been away from Terabithia for many years even though it has only been a month. (pg. 90)
During recess Leslie hears Janice Avery crying in the girl’s bathroom. (pg. 92)
Thanks to Jess, Leslie has one and a half friends at Lark Creek School. (pg. 97)
Jess compares the delicateness of life to a dandelion. (pg. 99)
For the first time in many years the creek bed has rushing water in it. (pg. 100)
The only time the Aaron’s go to church is at Easter. (pg. 100)
Jess’s dad comes home from early from Washington because he has been laid off from his job. (pg. 101)
Jess and the little girls sit in the bed of the pickup on the way to church. (pg. 106)
Section 4: Chapters 10-13
Vocabulary
Constrict: make narrower, especially by encircling pressure
Dread: to anticipate with great apprehension or fear
Liberated: showing freedom from social conventions or traditional ideas
Lopsided: with side lower or smaller than the other
Regard: to consider or think of someone or something in a specified way
Relentlessly: to be or pursue something in an increasingly intense or harsh way
Comprehension Questions
Jess wants to tell Leslie about his needing a gut transplant because that is the kind of nonsense that she enjoys. (pg. 122)
When Miss Jenkins call Jess on the telephone she invites him to go to Washington to see the Smithsonian or the National Gallery. (pg. 123)
When Jess enters the gallery it is like entering the pine grove, it was a sacred place. (pg. 127)
Jess believes the only thing that can keep Leslie from being dead is if he keeps on running. (pg. 132)
While Jess is running his father picks him up like a baby. (pg. 132)
Through the curtainless window Jess can see the lopsided moon with hundreds of stars. (pg. 134)
The day after Leslie dies, Jess’s mother tells him his father had milked Miss Bessie for him the night before. (pg. 137)
After Leslie dies, Jess’s mother serves pancakes for breakfast. (pg. 137)
When Jess’s father pats him on his shoulder he realizes that his father is not angry that he had to do the milking. (pg. 138)
Jess wants to leave the Burke’s house during the memorial service as he feels he is being smothered. (pg. 144)
Jess believes that only he had cared for Leslie. 145)
Jess the paints and paper that Leslie had given him into the creek by the crab apple tree where Leslie had died. (pg. 146-147)
When PT spends the night at Jess’s house he sleeps on Jess’s bed. (pg. 149)
When Jess and PT return to the stronghold they make a funeral wreath for the queen. (pg. 152)