Bridge to Terabithia

Interesting Word - Chapter 13 - KH

I located a word on page 124 that I found to be very interesting.  The word is "leaden" and I chose this word because it provides a vivid description of how Jesse is feeling.  The sentence containing the word reads:

"He raised his leaden body and stumbled out of the room.

Leaden means "heavy, sluggish, or gloomy."  So, in this sentence we know that Jesse is carrying the heavy burden of Leslie's recent death. 

The young lady walked to work unaware of her own leaden expression.

 

Traitorous? - Chapter 13 - JB

Traitorous     Page 158 (my book)

Traitorous - one who betrays one's friend

And even he himself had entertained the traitorous thought that now he would be the fastest.

The reason why I chose this word was because I did not know what it meant.  When I read the sentence I had to read it several times and I still was not making any sense of the word.  I finally looked it up in the dictionary and everything made sense.

The little girl had many traitorous ideas about her friends.

Regi-what?-LI

On page fifty-two, I came across a word that I had never seen before-REGICIDE. Leslie and Jess are talking, and the conversation is as follows:

"Jess Aarons, I'm going to kill you." "Hey girl, you kill the king of Terabithia, and you're in trouble." "Regicide," she said proudly. "Regi-what?" "Did I ever tell you the story of Hamlet?"

That was it! There was no explanation for the word. So, I looked it up, and it means the killing of a king! So, my new sentence using the word is: Brutus committed regicide when he killed Julius Caesar.

 

Complacent? Chapter 8-BH

When reading chapter 8, I came upon a word in which I did not understand. (I also feel that an average fourth or fifth grader would not know it either.) Here is the word:

"Jess was glad to excape to the shed and the complacent company of Miss Bessie."

Complacent is the feeling of being self-satisfied or unconcerned.

Once I looked this word up in the dictionary, the passage made much more sense.

Regicide? - Chapter 5 - KH

As I was reading chapter 5, I came across a word on page 52 that was unfamiliar.  The sentence reads, "Regicide," she said proudly.  I looked up the word and it means "the act of killing a king."  I reread page 52 and it made so much more sense to me after having looked up the meaning.  Sometimes it really helps to look up unfamiliar words, because even reading them in context can be confusing or unclear.

Great Words - Chapter 1 -JB

When I was reading chapter 1, I noticed all of the descriptive words that the author used to decribe things.  On page 1, I really liked when the author was describing how Jesse would feel when he was running.

He didn't worry about a shirt because once he began running he would be hot as popping grease even if the morning air was chill ...

The way the author uses these words really lets you become part of the book and captures your attention.  Another great place in chapter 1 where the author uses great descriptive words is on page 8.

Elle's voice was sweeter than a melted Mars Bar.