Bridge to Terabithia

- Want toast? - Yes.

Ellie, where's your cereal bowl?

- I'm not hungry. - You need to eat.

- I'm not hungry, Mom. - You need to eat before school.

- One more bite. - You want jelly?

Yes, please.

Watch it, Brenda. Don't mess my clothes up.

Billy Baker's in my class this year.

- Did he flunk too? - Shut up!

- Hey! - You're one to talk.

- Are you excited about school? - Yeah.

- Isn't your sister cute? - You stink.

Very cute.

He stinks. He's gotta shower before he eats with us.

Stop picking on your brother and eat.

May Belle?

- Honey, here's your juice. - Thanks.

OK, who hid my sneakers?

Jess, you could hardly call them sneakers anymore. I threw them out.

What? Mom!

Sorry, but I will not send any child of mine to school looking like some hobo.

There's a perfectly good old pair of Brenda's I put out for you.

These are girls' ones.

It's the fan belt this time, but I got another.

- Bye-bye. - Ellie? Honey, here you go.

- What's the matter? - There's a big race today.

- And? - My sneakers.

- I got a perfectly good pair for him. - These are girls' ones.

- I can't race in these. - You couldn't race in your old ones.

He needs some new sneakers, Mary.

- Catch Billy's eye in that. - We don't have anything for extras.

- Excuse me? - You're excused.

They make them the same. You got your chores done?

Just about to.

I try to keep my pit stops under ten seconds, ace.

Give it to me.

- Give it... - Hey, that's my lunch!

I found it!

You're kidding me.

OK, that's enough.

Consider it a free lunch program, farmer boy!

All right, settle down.

Good one, Janice.

What do you call your teacher? I wanna tell Alexandra.

- "Monster Mouth." Now scoot. - Alexandra,

- they call her "Monster Mouth" Myers. - I said scoot!

A few ground rules for this classroom.

No talking. No chewing gum. No electronic devices. Be forewarned.

If you download essays off the Internet,

you'll be downloaded into detention.

Let's start the year off on the right foot and all do our own work.

- I expect you to take notes. - Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,

Know what that is? My loser detector.

Jesse Aarons!

I got it from your sisters. I do not need it from you.

- Oh, man. - That goes for you as well.

He hit me.

- You're dead meat. - Scott Hoager and Gary Fulcher,

be quiet!

Now, back to what we were discussing before we were so rudely interrupted.

Sweet sneaks, Aarons.

You wear your sisters' hand-me-down underwear too?

He asked you a question, twinkle toes.

Good morning, kids. Welcome back. I hope you had a great summer.

Mrs. Myers, this is Leslie Burke, who will be joining your class.

- Leslie, welcome to Lark Creek. - Thanks.

Thank you, Principal Turner.

Well, Leslie, um, you'll sit at my desk this morning,

until we can figure out where to squeeze you in.

I like to start the year with a little fun.

I want you all to write a one-page essay about your favorite hobby.

Yes?

Mrs. Myers, when you say one page, did you mean both sides of the paper?

- You can do one side, Madison. - I'll do two.

- Yeah, that's cool. - No way!

- It was so amazing. - Can I have this?

You could have two bucks out of it all. I'm getting most of it, OK?

- Excuse me. - Got a dollar?

- No. - You're gonna have to use your pants.

- What's your problem? - You got that backwards.

- You got the problem. - That's right, new girl.

- Nice feet. - You say something?

What I said was,

have you ever heard the story about the trolls under the bridges

who collect tolls from unlucky travelers?

Trolls? What is she talking about?

Nice try, beanpole. It's still a dollar.

Yeah!

- Let's do it. Do it. - Yeah, we've got Hoager.

Next grade, line up. Let's do this thing. Come on.

Fulcher, Hoager, get in here.

Get ready. Let's get this race started.

- Beep, beep, beep. - Dead meat.

Back behind the line. You know how it goes. Back behind. Come on.

Hey, new girl. This is just for guys.

Hey, I'm talking to you!

What's the matter? Afraid a girl's gonna beat you?

- On your mark. Get set. - Dead meat.

Go, Hoager! Get in there!

Go! Go, Jess, go!

Come on!

Come on! You can do it!

Come on, Jess!

Go, Jess, go!

Jess, Jess, did you win?

Hey, Jess, right?

- Idiot! - What?

- See you tomorrow. - Ten seconds, ace.

Thank you.

Are you following me?

No. I live over there.

We're neighbors? You got little sisters?

No. Just me.

You got any Barbies?

Yeah. I think I have a few. You got any?

- Yeah, I have one... and a half. - And a half?

One got cut in half playing Super Extreme Barbies.

Never heard of that before.

You flush the toilet with them in it,

drop them from the upstairs window, stuff like that.

- It's really fun. - Sounds like fun.

- Well, I'll see you around. - Yeah. See ya.

- See ya. - Hey, guys.

Hey, Dad.

- I'm getting supplies. You wanna come? - Yeah. Sure.

See ya.

There we go. This'll make it feel better.

- How come it's my fault? - When I ask you to watch the baby,

- I mean watch the baby, Brenda. - It's Ellie's turn.

- I'm doing my algebra. - Put more cream on there.

You girls have to start helping out more here.

You're not little kids anymore.

May Belle! How many times have I told you, stay out of my stuff.

- It wasn't me. - It was too you.

- You can't prove it! - There a problem here?

- Daddy! - Hey, sweetie.

Is he picking on you?

- She was in my stuff. - What stuff?

How'd that race go?

There's this new girl moved in next door.

She beat all of the boys. Even Jess.

Make sure you take out the garbage before supper.

One drop.

And that's the magic. Here comes May Belle's flowers.

Are these ever gonna grow?

This greenhouse is gonna be filled with your purple flowers.

May Belle's flowers.

I always wanted the one that had, like, purple all over it.

They are so cool.

- These things are gonna grow fast. - Me too.

- Tomorrow, it's gonna be filled. - Yeah.

The bell's gonna ring!

- Good morning, everybody! - Good morning, Ms. Edmunds!

Aren't you glad that summer's over?

- No! - No? I am.

Come and get your instruments.

- Can I play the woodblock? - Yes.

Ms. Edmunds? May I please play the castanets?

Yes, you may. Everybody ready for music?

Take a picture. Lasts longer.

It's awfully quiet. # Old McDonald had a farm...

- No! - No? You don't like that song?

- No! - Then make some noise. Come on.

- We saw this video yesterday. - Whatever.

Change it! Give it... give it to me!

Stop it. You're always fighting.

- Wait till I get my own place. - I wanna watch this.

We just can't keep going like this.

Honey, uh... I've only got what I've got to work with. We gotta...

You gotta figure out a way to get down on this.

It's a problem, but I'm gonna try to get going.

And maybe you can pick up another shift at the store.

Dead meat.

You're really good at drawing.

Like, better than any kid I've ever seen.

Thanks.

I wanna share this composition for two reasons.

One, it uses adjectives well. And two,

it's clear the author paid attention to what she saw and what she felt,

which is important for any writing.

Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus by Leslie Burke.

Leslie, why don't you read it for us.

Oh, man. Can you believe this?

"I'm moving gently forward,

over the wild and beautiful, unexplored world below me.

I'm floating in silence,

and breaking it up with the sound of my breath.

Above me, there's nothing but shimmery light,

the place where I've come from,

and will go back to when I am done here.

I'm diving.

I'm a scuba diver.

I'm going deeper past the wrinkled rocks and dark seaweed

toward a deep blueness where a school of silver fish wait.

As I swim through the water,

bubbles burst from me,

wobbling like little jellyfish as they rise.

I check my air.

I don't have as much time as I need to see everything,

but that is what makes it so special."