Tuck Everlasting
By Natalie
Babbitt
Farrar, Straus,
Giroux, 1975. 139 pages. Fantasy/romance.
ISBN:
9780312369811
Reading/Interest Level: Ages 8+
Curriculum ties: Growing up, honor,
confronting fears
Booktalk Ideas: Running Away: Describe Winnie’s desire to run away, her attempt,
and end with her being “kidnapped” by Jesse Tuck.
Challenge Issues: N/A
Challenge Response: First
Defense File
Reader’s Annotation:
Time drags on and
on for Winnie Foster. One day she sneaks away into the woods just to do
something different, and she discovers a young man drinking from a spring of
water with a long lasting secret.
Plot Summary:
Young Winnie
Foster feels like she’s being suffocated by her restrictive life and family.
She starts to think about running away, and one day she wanders into the woods
by her house. While out exploring, she notices a boy drinking from a spring at
the base of a tree. Winnie tries to go get a drink too, but the boy, Jesse
Tuck, stops her. Winnie isn’t happy and soon Jesse’s mother and brother show up
and take Winnie away so that they can explain their situation.
The Tuck family
explains to Winnie that the water from the spring makes people stop aging. Jesse
has been 17 years old for 87 years. The Tucks impress upon Winnie how important
it is to keep this secret, and she agrees. However, someone else has heard
rumors about the family that never ages and he wants to exploit the powers of
the spring for his own gain.
Critical Evaluation:
This is such a
small book that it was easy to complete in one sitting, and I thoroughly enjoyed
it. When I was in my teen years I could completely relate to Winnie’s feelings
of being stifled by her family when she just wants to be independent. I, and I’m
sure many others too, often think about how nice it would be to live forever
and keep on learning and getting smarter and experiencing life. Especially if I
were to stay young! Babbitt tackles that desire and shows exactly why it’s not
a good idea and actually decreases the quality of one’s life.
The Tucks aren’t
happy people. Like many others they thought everlasting life would be exciting
at first, but as time dragged on their experiences showed them that no,
everlasting life wasn’t as wonderful as they thought it would be. They ended up
having to live in hiding and regularly move because of the attention that their
agelessness attracted.
Tackling such a
topic as everlasting life could easily overwhelm a writer, but Babbitt was able
to do it and evoke the emotions and sad consequences of such an experience in
an easily accessible and simplified way, contained in a book that appeals to
readers on a variety of levels.
About the Author:
I was born and
raised in Ohio. During my childhood, I spent most of my time drawing and
reading fairy tales and myths. My mother, an amateur landscape and portrait
painter, gave me art lessons. She always made sure I had enough paper, paint,
pencils, and encouragement. I grew up wanting only to be an illustrator. I
studied art at Laurel School in Cleveland and at Smith College.
Right after graduation, I married Samuel Fisher Babbitt, an academic administrator. I spent the next ten years in Connecticut, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C., raising our children, Christopher, Tom, and Lucy.
My husband took time out from his academic career to write a novel and discovered that he didn't enjoy the long, lonely hours that writing demanded. My sister produced a comic novel, which required substantial rewriting. I learned three valuable things from observing my husband's and sister's forays into the writer's world: You have to give writing your full attention. You have to like the revision process. And you have to like to be alone. But it was years before I put any of this to good use.
In 1966, my husband and I collaborated on a children's book called The Forty-ninth Magician he wrote it and I illustrated it. With encouragement from our editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, I continued producing children's books even after my husband became too busy to write the stories.
I write for children because I am interested in fantasy and the possibilities for experience of all kinds before the time of compromise. I believe that children are far more perceptive and wise than American books give them credit for being.
Right after graduation, I married Samuel Fisher Babbitt, an academic administrator. I spent the next ten years in Connecticut, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C., raising our children, Christopher, Tom, and Lucy.
My husband took time out from his academic career to write a novel and discovered that he didn't enjoy the long, lonely hours that writing demanded. My sister produced a comic novel, which required substantial rewriting. I learned three valuable things from observing my husband's and sister's forays into the writer's world: You have to give writing your full attention. You have to like the revision process. And you have to like to be alone. But it was years before I put any of this to good use.
In 1966, my husband and I collaborated on a children's book called The Forty-ninth Magician he wrote it and I illustrated it. With encouragement from our editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, I continued producing children's books even after my husband became too busy to write the stories.
I write for children because I am interested in fantasy and the possibilities for experience of all kinds before the time of compromise. I believe that children are far more perceptive and wise than American books give them credit for being.
-from Scholastic.com
author page-
Justification of Selection:
This book is a
good choice for low level readers, is a clean read, and a classic among
children’s literature. Many kids dream about growing up and/or living forever
and this book shows a possibility of what would happen if that possibility were
real.
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