Tuck Everlasting 40th Anniversary Celebration

Babbit, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting. Macmillan, 1965. 192 p. $9.99. 9781250059291.

Blessed with—or doomed to—eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family wanders about trying to live as inconspicuously and comfortably as they can. When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles on their secret, the Tucks take her home and explain why living forever at one age is less of a blessing than it might seem. Complications arise when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune.

What if you could live forever?

I think about Tuck and his insistence that the wheels of change must keep turning. Everything has a season they say. And I believe that. You could never really get to know anyone new because you would have to leave before they noticed you weren't getting older. Now, I am not a big fan of people but I like talking to them. I think we are built for different levels of companionship.  So, I guess I would not want to live forever!

What would 3rd Graders do?

I talked to several 3rd graders about Tuck Everlasting and asked them the question. Here's what they had to say?:

• Jump into a  volcano
• Drink after I go to college and then go live on Mars
• Drink at 30 so I can drive and give to family so we can live together
• I don't want to live forever
• Give it to people about to die
• Drink at 25 and give to family and go to Pluto
• Drink at 30 and give to family and dive into a volcano with dynamite
• I would not drink it
• I would go to war and be last one standing and win the war

About the Author

A gifted artist and writer, Natalie Babbitt is the award-winning author of the modern classic Tuck Everlasting, The Eyes of the Amaryllis, Kneeknock Rise, and many other brilliantly original books for young readers. She began her career in 1966 as the illustrator of The Forty-ninth Magician, a collaboration with her husband. When her husband became a college president and no longer had time to collaborate, Babbitt tried her hand at writing. Her first novel, The Search for Delicious, established her gift for writing magical tales with profound meaning. Kneeknock Rise earned her a Newbery Honor Medal, and in 2002, Tuck Everlasting was adapted into a major motion picture. Natalie Babbitt lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and is a grandmother of three.

The 40th Anniversary edition will release on January 20, 2015 with a special forward by Gregory Maguire! Pre-order your copy here!

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