Bridge to Terabithia: Chapters 6–7

by Katherine Paterson
Jess and Leslie spend their free time playing in the fantasy land of Terabithia; but when tragedy strikes, one of them will have to learn to cope with loss in the real world.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–5, Chapters 6–7, Chapters 8–10, Chapters 11–13
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. obsessed
    having excessive or compulsive concern with something
    Christmas was almost a month away, but at Jess’s house the girls were already obsessed with it.
  2. speculation
    continuous contemplation on a subject of a deep nature
    This year Ellie and Brenda both had boyfriends at the consolidated high school and the problem of what to give them and what to expect from them was cause of endless speculation and fights.
  3. surplus
    a quantity much larger than is needed
    Fights, because as usual, their mother was complaining that there was hardly enough money to give the little girls something from Santa Claus, let alone a surplus to buy record albums or shirts for a pair of boys she’d never set eyes on.
  4. furious
    marked by extreme anger
    Partly, of course, it made him furious that anyone as dumb as Brenda would think she could make fun of Leslie.
  5. foundling
    a child who has been abandoned and whose parents are unknown
    Lord, it hurt his guts to realize that it was Brenda who was his blood sister, and that really, from anyone else’s point of view, he and Leslie were not related at all. Maybe, he thought, I was a foundling, like in the stories.
  6. grieve
    feel intense sorrow, especially due to a loss
    Somewhere I have a family who have rooms filled with nothing but books and who still grieve for their baby who was stolen.
  7. scrawl
    write carelessly
    But nothing he drew seemed good enough, and he would end up scrawling across the half-finished page and poking it into the stove to burn up.
  8. sprawling
    spreading out in different directions
    “See you later,” he mumbled, and shoved his way up the aisle through pair after pair of sprawling legs.
  9. humble
    marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful
    “It’s not a great present like yours,” she said humbly, “but I hope you’ll like it.”
  10. imitate
    reproduce someone's behavior or looks
    Everything the dog did, he imitated, flopping down at last with his tongue lolling out.
  11. loll
    hang loosely or laxly
    Everything the dog did, he imitated, flopping down at last with his tongue lolling out.
  12. squabble
    argue over petty things
    Even his sisters’ squabbling about when presents were to be opened did not touch him.
  13. vain
    unproductive of success
    She squenched up her right cheek in a vain effort to return his wink.
  14. prance
    move or step in a lively, spirited, or showy way
    Ellie wasn’t helping matters, prancing around in her new hose, making a big show of helping Momma with the ham and sweet potatoes for dinner.
  15. prompt
    performed with little or no delay
    His mother seemed not to notice the promptness of his response but went on in a complaining voice, “I don’t know what I’d do without Ellie. She’s the only one of you kids ever cares whether I live or die.”
  16. inclined
    having a preference, disposition, or tendency
    For all his smartness with politics and music, Mr. Burke was inclined to be absent-minded.
  17. dregs
    a small part that remains after the main part is gone
    Or maybe it was the time of year—the last dregs of winter spoiling the taste of everything.
  18. canker
    an ulcerlike sore
    Jess’s feelings about Leslie’s father poked up like a canker sore. You keep biting it, and it gets bigger and worse instead of better.
  19. prospector
    someone who explores an area for mineral deposits
    First they ripped out the boards that covered the ancient fireplace, coming upon the rusty bricks like prospectors upon the mother lode.
  20. garish
    tastelessly showy
    Next they got the old wallpaper off the living-room wall—all five garish layers of it.
  21. anxiety
    a vague unpleasant emotion in anticipation of a misfortune
    She must have seen his anxiety because she winked at him across Bill and Judy just as he sometimes winked at May Belle over Joyce Ann’s head.
  22. fare
    proceed, get along, or succeed
    “How do you suppose the kingdom has fared in our absence?”
  23. utterly
    completely and without qualification
    “Drive them out utterly, so they may never return and prey upon our people.”
  24. grant
    bestow, especially officially
    “Now grant protection to Terabithia, to all its people, and to us its rulers.”
  25. obliged
    having a moral duty to do something
    If she was an animal predator, we’d be obliged to try to help her.
  26. flush
    turn red, as if in embarrassment or shame
    He flushed. “I can’t go into no girls’ room.”
  27. dumbfounded
    as if rendered speechless with astonishment and surprise
    He didn’t mean it in a daring way, he was just dumbfounded by the idea of Leslie being scared.
  28. vile
    exceptionally bad or unpleasant
    She looked for a word vile enough to describe Janice Avery’s friends and found none.
  29. ignorant
    uneducated in general; lacking knowledge or sophistication
    When parents were poor or ignorant or mean, or even just didn’t believe in having a TV set, it was up to their kids to protect them.
  30. sassy
    improperly forward or bold
    “How come?” Her voice was sassy.
Created on Sun Apr 07 12:38:39 EDT 2013 (updated Wed Jul 06 14:57:46 EDT 2022)

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