Tuck Everlasting (A Sunburst book)

by Natalie Babbitt

Paperback, 1985

Status

Available

Local notes

PB Bab

Publication

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (1985), Paperback, 144 pages

Description

The Tuck family is confronted with an agonizing situation when they discover that a ten-year-old girl and a malicious stranger now share their secret about a spring whose water prevents one from ever growing any older.

Language

Original publication date

1975

Physical description

139 p.; 5.12 inches

User reviews

LibraryThing member porch_reader
This book reminded me of a well-told fairy tale. When eleven-year-old Winnie Foster meets the Tuck family in the forest near a spring, they must stop her from drinking the water lest she suffers the same fate that has befallen them. As they tell her their story, she shows them true compassion and
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expresses wisdom beyond her years in the decisions that she makes. In this relative short book, Babbitt has created characters that will stick with me for a long time.
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LibraryThing member bonbonsandreveries
Ooooooo this was such a cute book! Underneath the innocence and beauty of the story, there was a much heavier undertone. The story is about the Tuck family. Eighty-something years before the events of the book, they drank from a fountain in the woods. When they never grew old, or died of injury or
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disease, they realized it was the water. At first they were happy and went out and did whatever they wanted, but over time they realized it was more of a curse than a blessing. Everyone around them grows old and dies and then new people come into the world. The Tucks will forever be the same. The two sons of the family, Jesse and Miles, can never have families because of it. It is so sad. Winnie Foster, the 10 yr. old daughter of the owner of the woods that the Tuck family lives in, decides to runaway one day. While walking in the woods she sees Jesse drinking from a fountain at the base of a tree. After talking for a bit, Winnie is brought to the Tuck’s house. At first she doesn’t believe that they can live forever and just wants to go home, but she grows to love the family, especially Jesse, and wants to protect their secret. In town, there is a man in a yellow suit whose heard of the Tuck family and wants to find the fountain of youth by taking advantage of Winnie’s “kidnapping.”
This was such a beautiful story. Unlike most people, I had never read this book when I was younger. In fact, this was the first time I’ve ever read it. I was astounded by how much I enjoyed it. Even though Tuck Everlasting is a children’s book and for the most part written through Winnie’s 3rd person POV, it can be enjoyed by adults, maybe even on a deeper level. Winnie’s POV added an innocence to the writing. As an adult I could see past the innocence right to the seriousness of the situation. The Tuck’s want to die, or at least grow old and then die. They would do anything to be normal again. But they can’t and they force Winnie to realize that without death, there is no life.

"Everything's a wheel, turning and turning, never stopping. The frogs is part of it, and the bugs, and the fish, and the wood thush, too. And people. But never the same ones. Always coming in new, always growing and changing, and always moving on. Thats the way it's suppose to be. That's the way it is. If we didn't move it out ourself, it would stay here forever, trying to get loose, but stuck. That's what us Tucks are, Winnie. We ain't part of the wheel anymore."

"You can't have living without dying. So you can't call it living, what we got. We just are, we just be, like rocks beside the road."

I just adored this book. Babbitt wrote with an illustrative style. Her word choice and descriptions brought the woods to life. It was all so vivid in my mind-the world was so lovely and charming. In 2002, Disney made a movie of the book. Even though the film is slightly different from the book (Winnie being 15 instead of 10-makes for a good romance-and a few other smaller differences) it captures the spirit of the book, making it a fantastic film. If you’ve never read Tuck Everlasting, I recommend you do- no matter how old you are, you will love the Tuck family just like Winnie did.
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LibraryThing member Whisper1
Recipient of many awards, including the 1976 Christopher Award for Best Book for Young People, this remarkable gem has stood the test of time.

It is simply written in a fairytale style. And, each and every word is used sparingly with a magical eloquence.

Young Winnie Foster is bored and leaves the
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confines of her house where she walks into the woods surrounding her home to discover members of the Tuck family.

In taking her journey, Winnie is transformed by the Tucks as she learns that over 100 years ago they drank from a spring in the woods and thus have eternal life.

Fearful that she will divulge the secret, the Tucks take her home with them where they explain the consequences of never dying and of the unrealistic style of life in contradiction of the ebb and flow of life and death.

Thought provoking in content, delightfully, wonderfully written, I highly recommend this one.
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LibraryThing member denisecase
The tuck family has found the fountain of youth.When winnie discovers them and their secret we learn that maybe it isn't a good thing. To be immortal to them had become a curse. They weren't able to form any good friendships. People they loved would die and they wouldn't. People just couldn't
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understand why they didn't age. Because of this they lead solitary lives. They only dared stay in a place for a short amount of time. Winnie befriends them and helps them escape and later has to chose immortality or not.

This was a good book. We all think that to live forever would be awesome. It really would be a curse. It would be hard to see the people you love get older while you stay the same. If everyone lived forever then there would be an over crowding. The cycle of life is necessary even though painful.

I would have the kids write about what they would do if they were immortal. Were would they live? What jobs would they have? Do they think it would always be good to live forever?
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LibraryThing member jpmccasland
Winifred Foster is an overprotected, stifled child who thinks about escaping her rigid upbringing, but doesn’t know how. In a moment of wild abandon, she ventures into the woods near her house and embarks on a life changing adventure. She meets the Tuck family, a family with a secret. The Tucks
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are immortal; the woods near Winnie’s house hold the fountain of youth. When she finds out the precious secret that she's supposed to keep, Winnie has to make several decisions about love, belief and ultimately her own mortality.

Tuck Everlasting is an excellent book! I loved the pictures created with words. The Author, Natalie Babbit manages to create feelings in the reader, I was frustrated because Winnie is frustrated at her stifling upbringing. I longed for the carefree life of the Tucks. It made me think seriously about what choices I would make in a similar circumstance. The history is good and accurate, the imagery is magnificent. The writing makes the characters come alive; Winnie is both bored and loving. She is a strong female hero and is written admirably. The Tucks also are given their own distinct personalities and character, the villain is sufficiently evil to achieve his purpose. I liked the frog at the end (you'll have to read it).

This book is great for a classroom because of the history, the drama and well written prose. The story could promote discussions about mortality and what we would do with immortality. The class could discuss death as part of life. There is some history component that could be included in the discussion. The stifling aspects of Winnie's life could also be discussed in class to see what solutions the class would offer to Winnie if she were in their classroom.
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LibraryThing member MarthaSohl
If you discovered a spring where drinking the water would stop aging forever what would you do? The Tuck's discovered it by accident and realized they must keep it a secret. Winnie Foster learned the secret then had to make the choice to help guard the secret and decide if she was going to live a
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normal life or drink the water.

This book held my attention. It presents a real problem if this knowledge fell into the wrong hands. Can you imagin the chaos this could cause? Winnie Foster was a very preceptive ten year old. I was happy with the choice Winnie made and I thought the ending of the story was pretty funny with the durn fool frog in the middle of the road.

Classroom extensions for this may be in discussing strange happenings that seem like they could never happen but you are not quite sure what is real and what is not. It could be discussing having faith in something or someone because you believe things to be true. This story also illustrates friendship
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LibraryThing member cpipkin1
This is a story about faith, acceptance, and the quest for immortality. Young Winni is bored in her life and wanting something new. She is tired of always being cooped up in her yard and sets of on an adventure into the woods. There she meets a young man and they begin to talk. She grows thirsty
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and wants to drink from the fountain. When he refuses she begins to ask a lot of questions. Things go from bad to worse real quick when the Tucks "kidnap" Winnie and take her to their home to explain why she can not drink the water. At first she finds the Tucks a bit crazy, but later comes to trust them and love them. She ends up saving their lives.

After getting past chapter 1, I actually enjoyed this book. I love the imagery used to describe the Tucks. The author did a great job of pulling the reader in. By the end of the book you are so in love with the characters you do not want it to end.

In my classroom this book would be used during our Modern Fantasy unit. The students will use words within the story to create a word-wed. This word-web will show how this story takes place in the late 1800's. The students could also discuss this in a literature circle. For Language Arts, the students will have to find at least three metaphors used in the story. For classroom discussion, we will talk about the desire humans have for immortality. We would take a poll on who wants to have immortality and who doesn't and create a bar graph.
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LibraryThing member RobertaRogers
This story is about a little girl who feels traped. She is not even aloud to be outside very long and she deffiently is not aloud outside her gate. She found a toad and it quickly became her friend, she confessed her feelings to the toad. She wanted to escape, run away. One day she wondered through
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the woods that she owned and came across a boy sitting by a tree. As she watched him he moved some pebbles and qater squirted out of the ground. The boy noticed her and she went up to him and starting talking and the boys mother came up and they kidnaped the girl. They kept telling her that they were not going to hurt her and to stay calm. Once they reached their house they told her the reason on why they jhad kidnaped her. They had a secret and nobody else in the world knew except them. She helped them keep their secret until the day she died.

I could not put this book down.

I would read this to my class. It is enjoyable and I think students would enjoy it. If I did not read it aloud then I would have them read it and do a fun assignment along with it.
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LibraryThing member ebrady333
This is about a little girl named Winnie who never leaves her gated yard. She has a special frog that she cares about and talks to all the time. One day she goes out into her wood and sees a boy, Jesse Tuck, drinking from a water spout in the ground. She is instantly attracted to him but he is
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older than her. She wants a drink but the boy says no. Then his family comes and tells her that the water makes people immortal. They have to take the girl because they do not want to let her drink the water and they do not want her to tell anyone. During their journey to the Tuck's house a man in a yellow suit see them with the girl on the horse and follows them to see where they are taking the girl. He hears them talking about the water in Winnie's wood and decides to blackmail Winnies family. He tells them he knows where their little girl as been taken to and who kidnapped her but he will only tell them if they sell him their wood. So they do. Then the man in the yellow suit goes back to the Tuck's and tells them he knows about the water and he has purchased the wood and he wants to take the girl. The Tuck's know that the world would go crazy for the water May Tuck hits the man in the head with a gun and kills him. Then she is arrested and sentenced to be hung. Since she cant die they decide they are going to have to break her out of the jail and then leave for a very long time. Winnie wants to help so she sneaks out of her house and meets Jesse. They go to the jailhouse and Winnie trades places with May so the guard will think she is still there and the Tuck's have time to leave town. Before they leave Jesse gives Winnie I bottle of the water and tells her to drink it when she is 16 so they can be together forever. She sees her frog and he looks thirsty so instead of drinking the water she gives it to the frog. Years later May and Tuck return to look for the girl but she is not there but on their way out of town they almost run over a frog in the road.

This book was great. I loved the love story and the survival of the family. I also like the comparison between this book and Twilight. They both delt with love and immortality. This book did not take long to read at all so my only complaint is I wish it was longer!

I think this book would be great for young adults. I would use this book in the classroom if I was doing a modern fantasy lesson. Also I think it would be fun to do a comparison between this book and Twilight. I liked the idea of doing movie posters and character wanted signs.
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LibraryThing member StephSchmahl
Tuck Everlasting is about a young girl named Winnie who is very sheltered. One day she leaves home to the woods and meets a family who has a very big secret, they are immortal. The Tucks have drank water from a spring that has the ablility to make a human live forever. Winnie soon has to face a
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decision of her own whether or not to drink from the spring.

At first I wasn't sure if I would be able to get into the book but the farther along I got the more I enjoyed it. I thought it had a really good plot and the author really knew how to draw the audience in.

In the classroom I would have my students read the book then compare it to the movie. Also, I would have the students write a short story on whether or not they would choose to live forever.
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LibraryThing member MsTebedoLovesReading
Tuck Everlasing is about a girl, Winnie, who is kept from leaving her yard in order to go out and venture her surroundings. She seems like a very lonely little girl and she talks to herself and animals. She finally decides to leave the gated yard without permission to search the forrest behind her
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house for a sound of music she heard out there. She stumbles upon a boy, Jesse, and talks to him a bit. There is a stream of water by them and when Winnie tries to take a drink, Jesse demands she doesn't. Winnie is ultimately kidnapped by Jesse's family and taken to their house and told of the powers of the water from which she wanted to drink. There is also a man in a yellow suit that is after to the stream. He has heard of its power and wished to get rich from it. Things happen through out the novel but in the end, Winnie does not drink the water and lives a long and fullfilled life. The Tucks however, live on, forever.

I liked this story up until it seemed as though the author skipped a lot of what could have been in the story. I would like to have known more of what happened in between Winnie going home and her dying.

In my classroom, after we have completed the reading of this novel, I would have my students write their own ending. We could also discuss immortality and all that comes or could come with it.
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LibraryThing member rachaelmcdonald
Tuck Everlasting is a book about a ten year old girl Winnie Foster who is lucky enough to meet the Tucks, a family with a very special secret. Winnie first meets Jesse Tuck, an extremely handsome seventeen year old boy on her family’s property. She witnesses Jesse taking a drink from a tiny
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fountain in her wood that she had never realized was there before and asks to have some. Jesse denies her the water explaining that it would be awful to allow her to drink it at such a young age. Winnie is extremely confused then whisked off to the Tucks house miles away where they tell her their unbelievable secret. Unfortunately a man in a yellow suit hears the secret and has his own plan for the Tucks and Winnie. This plan backfires and the man ends up dead at the hands of Mae, Jesse’s mother. Winnie forms a very close bond with the Tucks and decides regardless of the consequences she is going to save Mae from a punishment that could reveal a secret that could change human nature forever.

I read this book for my Children’s literature class. I couldn’t be happier that my professor picked this book. It was wonderful and I couldn’t put it down. It is a great story about life’s decisions, and how we have to take responsibility for those decisions. As a future teacher I will have my students read this book. It is filled with action, adventure, love, and many lessons.

As a teacher I would have my class break up into groups of four to five students to discuss the book. I would have them find quotes throughout the book that meant the most to them and then have them draw a picture to go with the one they all liked the best. The students could put on a play about what would of happened if Winnie would of drank the water instead of pouring it on the frog.
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LibraryThing member whitnihatfield
This is the wonderful story of Winnie Foster, who discovers a family who will live forever. She goes through an adventure to find who she is and what she truly values. She helps the Tucks escape from discovery and saves their secret. Will she in turn drink from the pond that gave the Tucks eternal
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life?

I loved this story. I remember reading it in elementary school and loving the story of Winnie and Jesse. I wondered what I would do in the situation she was in. I love the metaphors and the personification that Babbitt uses throughout the book. It makes it as if you were really there.

I would have the class do different projects for this book. They could do a movie poster, or different quotes they likes, but I would most likely do a literature circle with this book and allow the students to take their own creative aspects on the book. I want the students to enjoy reading and this book is very enjoyable for both boy and girl. I can't wait to put this book into my class.
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LibraryThing member elizacats
A story about a topic in which many of us have interest.
A family has discovered a pool in the forest that allows the drinker to live forever. A girl falls in love with one of the boys in the family. She is offered a chance at eternal life, she's not sure which choice to make.
LibraryThing member mel2209
Tuck Everlasting is a wonderfully written story about a little girl and her exciting adventure with a strange family, the Tucks. This little girl, Winnie Foster, runs away from home finds herself swept away from her comfortable, rigid life. Her journey begins when she is kidnapped from the woods
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beside her house and taken to the Tucks home. There Mr. Tuck explains their lives to her, and the importance of keeping their secret. After many more exiciting incidents, including a night in jail, Winnie finds herself back home with a life changing decision to make.

I enjoyed the first half of this book VERY much and believe anyone in 4th grade or above would agree. The second half seems more rushed and the detail of the first half is missing, however it is still a good, easy book to read.

This book would be an excellent book to use in a literary unit of any kind. This would be anything from a book where students write a book report or story after reading it, to a unit where the students get into groups and write another chapter for the book. Another idea is to use it to enhance a lesson on descriptive words and how to "paint" the picture for the reader as the author does a very good job of this in the first half of the book. Finally, I may use this book simply as silent reading time where I would read it to them and have discussions afterward to make sure they understood what was going on.
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LibraryThing member jcmontgomery
I had no idea until I began reading this book that it’s Young Adult fiction.

Was I put off? Not in the least.

As it turns out, the story and its theme are ageless. There is a kidnapping and murder, but it’s handled in a fashion that keeps this suitable for younger sensibilities. (And don’t
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worry, giving you this information in no way is a spoiler).

For us older folk? There are beautifully written passages, and a theme that will keep you wondering long after you put down this novella.

Yes, it’s a very short read, but it carries quite a punch.

It makes you think about mortality & ethics. It could go deeper, but why over-explain something we should figure out for ourselves? In addition, this is for a younger audience who aren’t quite prepared to jump so far out into the deep end of the pool. Think of this as a way to introduce them to it through the shallow end.

But if you do like stories that are deeply philosophical, then there are plenty of literary works that cover the same territory with bigger words and whose authors are happy for you to dive right in, sometimes over your head.

I think that is why I am so enamored with this book. It’s given me a lot to think about, but never overwhelmed me – not once.

As I noted on Twitter, this book can be the poster child to prove YA fiction can be anything but devoid of thought-provoking content.

A definite recommend to anyone who has never read it, or has seen the movie. I haven’t. Not sure I will. I have this thing about adaptations.

But if you have, and liked it, I’d love to hear your opinion – especially if you’ve read the book too.
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LibraryThing member mixona
This book is narrated by a little ten year old girl named Winnie. Winnie lives near a wood that houses a magic spring, drink from the spring and you'll live forever. No one except the Tuck family knows about this spring. One day Winnie spies Jesse Tuck, a handsome seventeen year old boy, drinking
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from the spring. Fearing that their secret spring will be discovered, Jesse and his brother kidnap Winnie and take her back to their house to explain why she mustn't tell anyone about the magic immortal-making spring. Ultimately, this book is about Winnie's decision whether or not to drink the water herself.

I remembering reading this book for the first time when I was in sixth grade. Being about Winnie age, I was curious about all the same things she was in the book. I remember thinking knowing about a secret magic spring would be a big secret that would be hard to keep. This book will be loved by readers for it's simplicity, but also because of the imagination it activates. Who doesn't want to think about living forever?

As a classroom extension, I could use this book to talk about why it is important that people do not live forever (e.g. over population, lack of food) and how people attempt to stay young (cosmetic surgery, exercise). A teacher could also show the movie and have the students make a ven diagram, comparing and constrasting the two.
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LibraryThing member Chiree
“Tuck Everlasting” is a modern fantasy about an over protected, misunderstood little girl. Ten year old Winnie Foster decides to run away through the strange woods that are across the road from her house. In the woods she stumbles upon a clearing and in the clearing, at the base of an enormous
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tree, sat a “glorious” 17 year old boy, Jesse Tuck. Winnie’s adventure begins as Jesse’s mother and brother arrive and kidnap her to keep her from telling about the tree and it’s secret. Winnie learns about the secret and tries to understand why she feels the Tuck’s need her and how she will protect them. Winnie must decide if her love for Jesse will be worth giving up life as she knows it and living forever as a young girl with Jesse.

I thought this book was very well written. I didn’t want to put it down and when I had read it I wanted more. The words wrap around you until you become Winnie. The fantasy is the emotional tug at our hearts to live forever young and invincible. It is the emotional decision to give up what we have in order to take what is forbidden. This book is a fantastic example of the statement that “fantasy is the metaphor through which we discover ourselves.” (Susan Cooper, 1981) The emotional needs of each character in the book are explored through the search to understand why we live and why we die.

In the classroom the book could be used to support a discussion with students about treating other people with respect and not tell “secrets” or gossip. The students could discuss the many things that would have happened if Winnie had told everyone the Tuck’s secret. They could also discuss when it is appropriate to tell a secret that could cause some one to be harmed if not told to the right person.
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LibraryThing member mrs_rgutierrez
Winnie Foster was an ordinary girl. She knew her parents rules of right nad wrong. She came across the Tuck family through the woods by her house. She fell in love with the family and helped them escape the law. Winnie had the option of being immortal wit them, but she chose not to. She lived a
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happy and fullfilled life.

I did like the book because the little girl was the narrator the majority of the time. There was adventure, love, and breaking rules in the book.

I would have the children write in their journal about an immortal life. What would the children do, where would they live, what goals if any would they have?
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LibraryThing member vlreed02
This book about a mysterious family who stumbles upon young Winnie Foster is a wonderful read. It tells the story of Winnie who is bored with her stuffy life; she thinks she wants to run away. One day she stumbles into the forest to find Jessie the youngest of the Tuck family drinking from a
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spring. He sort of freaks out when she sees him. He decided he must have Ma (Mae) and his dad Tuck to talk to her. This spring brought endless life to this family, but they were not all happy about eternal life, they realized that the circle of life is just the way things should go. They were no longer on the circle of life. They convince Winnie that firstly, she really didn’t want to run away, because he was scared the whole night she spent with them and secondly, that this fountain must never be known about or drank from. Conflict arises in this book when a man who Winnie had seen up by her house before and had been the relation to Miles: Miles the eldest tuck boy who had a family but his wife left him upon the scary grounds that him and his family never seemed to grow older. His ex wife's family told the story and the man had heard it from his grandmother. He then went to investigate and stalked the Tucks as they took Winnie to their cottage to talk to her about the spring. He overheard the story and it confirmed his family's tales. He then got a plan to sell the water and to make Winnie drink of the spring to prove it, at that Mae got upset and hit him and killed him. Unfortunately, the sheriff, on his way to find Winnie saw the incident and immediately locked Mae up and planned upon hanging her...problem was that she would not die on the gallows she had eternal life. So the Tucks figure a way to get her out. Winnie must take her spot in the cell until morning, enough time for the Tucks to get far away.

It is not only interesting to younger crowds but also to older crowds. This book was read to me when I was in 6th grade. I enjoyed the story and we also got to watch the movie along with it. This book is a book not easily forgotten.

In the book it has very interesting morals. I would use it as a class tool and have them write out and illustrate the morals depicted. I would also have them do a compare and contrast chart of the movie versus the book.
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LibraryThing member RochelleRobinson
The story, "Tuck Everlasting" is a story that I could read over and over again and not get tired! This is definitely a story that should be read by all children! Winnie contemplates running away from her home because her parents are very strict. While walking in the woods she meets a boy that is
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drinking from a spring that flows beneath an old ash tree. The boy, Jessie Tuck, will not let her get a drink. Winnie finally learns that if she takes a drink of the water, she will live forever and that jessie has been 17 for 87 years! Jessie's family has tried to tell Jessie that there is a tremendous downside to living forever. Jessie really wants Winnie to drink the water when she is 17 so that they can be married and live together forever. There was a man who wanted to sell the water to become rich. Ma doesn't care for the idea so she gets her shotgun and kills the man. She wants to keep this "spring water" a secret. Well, Ma is taken to jail and just knows she will be hanged for killing the man. If she is hanged she will be unable to die. To help her friends keep the spring's secret, Winnie volunteers to take Ma's place in jail after the family breaks her out. The plan worked out perfectly!

I enjoyed reading this heart-warming story. The author, Natalie Babbitt, has an incredible imagination! While I was reading the story I felt as if I was right there with Tuck and Winnie standing near the "spring water" on a cool sunny day! What a wonderful story with a sweet ending!

As an extension I would discuss with the children what it would be like to live "forever" and get their opinions and view points on the subject. I would also ask the children to write their "own" story, starting out with the beginning of this story, and using their own imagination as to how "their" story would end. I would allow them to write anything they wished to finish their personal story and then they would read their "finished" story to the class. I would be very interested to see how the children's stories would end. What a great way to use your imagination and be creative all at the same time!
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LibraryThing member ashclark
This book is about a ten year old girl named Winnie who lives near a wooded area that holds a huge secret. The secret is that there is a magic spring that keeps people young forever, essientally the fountain of youth. By mistake she catches Jesse Tuck drinking from it. So Jesse and his brother
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kidnap her for fear that she will reveal their secret. So they tell her all about the spring and tell her not to share the secret. The rest of the book Winnie goes back and forth about if she should drink from it.

I really love this book it's a classic how could you not? It is just so good that you imagine that you are Winnie wanting to be a part of something magical. That's how I feel about the book I wish that I was Winnie sometimes. Ha!
As a classroom extension this would be a great book to read together as a class and then watch the movie because it's just as great. I could discuss with the class the fantasy of the book and explain how it is impossible and maybe we could discuss whether or not we would want to be immortal. It's interesting to me how similar this book is to Twighlight.
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LibraryThing member oxlena
I liked this book a lot. I could read this book 50 times and never grow tired of it. There's something whimsical about the thought of a fountain of youth. The ending is sad. Predictable, but sad. I'd recommend it to those of every age. 4 out of 5
LibraryThing member MelissaFreed
Re-read this summer and was glad to find I liked it as much as I did as a girl.
LibraryThing member michirenee87
Summary: Winne is a young girl who feels confined to her home until she gets involved with the Tucks. She meets them one day while she is exploring her family's wood for the first time. She learns that they will live forever because they drank from the water in the wood. The man in the yellow suit
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overhears, and plots to sell the water and exploit the Tucks. Mae hits him over the head, and he dies. She is put in jail, and awaits execution, but Winnie and the rest of the Tucks save her.

Reflection: I love this book! I read this for the first time in third grade, and have read it several times since. Each time I enjoy it as much as I did the first time. I think it's a great story, but I do think that it leaves the reader asking many questions. I'll always wonder what the yellow suit man's name is!

Extension ideas: I would have the children do a creative writing assignment. I'd ask them to write about what they'd do and how they'd live if they had drank the water and lived forever. They would write about whether they would like it or dislike it. Another idea would be to watch the movie and compare it to the book.
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Pages

139

Rating

½ (2487 ratings; 3.9)
Page: 2.3457 seconds