As an escape from it all, Jess and Leslie sneak off to the woods one afternoon to do some exploring. Jess and Leslie also have to contend with the school bully, Janice Avery, a large seventh-grade girl who terrorizes anyone in her path. As the days go by, Leslie continues to draw the ridicule and ire of her classmates due to her bumbling social graces she dresses in undershirts and cutoffs, states plainly that her family doesn’t have a television, and talks about strange hobbies like scuba diving. Leslie is hopeful that life in the country will be full of adventure. That afternoon they sit together on the bus, and Leslie explains that her parents-wealthy writers and intellectuals whom she calls by their first names, Bill and Judy-have moved to the countryside to escape the pressures of city life in Washington, D.C. Jess believes that he and Miss Edmunds are “in love.” During music class, as Leslie and Jess sing together, Jess finds himself softening toward the eccentric girl. Jess finds himself hating fifth grade-the only bright spot in his week is music class with Miss Edmunds, a beautiful hippie who encourages Jess’s secret talent: drawing.
Even as Leslie’s disregard for social norms is off-putting to Jess, he finds that there is something beautiful in the way Leslie runs, free as a wild bird. Jess despairs when he realizes Leslie is in his class on the first day of school-and becomes even more annoyed with her when she demands to race alongside the boys at recess (and wins). Her name is Leslie Burke, and she is a shabby, nosy tomboy. When a new family moves into the shabby old farmhouse across the street, Jess’s sister May Belle hopes there will be a girl her age she can play with, but Jess soon realizes that the family’s child is a girl his own age. Jess also has four sisters- Joyce Ann, May Belle, Ellie, and Brenda-who annoy and antagonize him in various ways. Aarons, who commutes daily to a job in Washington, D.C., seems to dislike the person Jess is growing into. Aarons, nags him constantly about his chores, while his distant, unaffectionate, and overworked father, Mr.
Running is an escape for Jess-there’s a lot for him to contend with at home. As summer comes to an end, 10-year-old Jesse Oliver Aarons, Jr.-or Jess, as he likes to be called-spends every morning running through the fields behind his house in the rural town of Lark Creek, Virginia, determined to win the title of fastest runner in the fifth grade when school resumes.
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