Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit

Book Genre: Fiction/Fantasy
Publishing Info: Farrar, Straus and Giroux 1975, 144 pages

Awards or honors received: NA

Summary: A young girl Winnie meets a family who has obtained immortality by consuming the water of a hidden spring in the woods. The family having not aged in over 200 years reflects on how times have changed. The family patriarch in particular has come to see this immortality as as not a blessing but a curse and bemoans that fact that he is unable to die, going so far as to attempt at various times over the years to take his life. The family takes to Winnie, particularly, the oldest son who sees Winnie as a potential mate, and offers to grant her immortality by allowing her to drink from the spring. In the end Winnie must weigh the consequences of her decision.

Personal rating and reason for rating: Good, an interesting perspective on a subject, immortality, that most have considered at some point in their lives.

Reading level: AR level 5.0

Interest level: Fifth or Sixth grade

Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study (reading and writing across the curriculum): Open-mind portraits could be created for Winnie and the Tuck family father.
Debates could be arranged between those in favor or opposed to immortality.
Students could analyze how Winnie changes through this text and how the encounter with the Tuck family influences those changes.
Science could be tied in through the idea of ecological succession as students consider how the woods change over time.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: The topic of death may be difficult for some students.