Five Stars: A book that should be treasured and read time and time again.Winnie Foster is tired of being cooped up and pampered. She is the only child of the Fosters who live in the "touch me not" cottage at the edge of the small woods. At ten, Winnie wants to see the world. Winnie promises the toad sitting by her gate that tomorrow she will run away to the woods. The next day, Winnie makes good on her promise. As she traverses the small wood, she wonders why she has never bothered to explore them before. Suddenly, a small movement catches her eye. Winnie peers around a large tree and sees a handsome teenager drinking from a small spring. Winnie decides she wants a drink, but Jessie Tuck insists she not drink from that spring. Suddenly, Winnie is tossed on the back of a horse and kidnapped by the Tuck family. They have an unbelievable story to tell her about that small spring. Will Winne protect their secret?What I Loved:*Tuck Everlasting is the book that took hold of me and rooted in my soul when I read it. I was ten years old when I first met Winnie and the Tucks. Over thirty years later, this small little book and its wonderful characters are still speaking to me. I adore this book! It is one that will always remain on my shelf. It is the book that stirred something inside of me and made me fall in love with gorgeous writing and simple story telling. This is a timeless book that should be read and loved by everyone. *The writing is absolutely lovely. It is filled with rich descriptions, beautiful metaphors and similes. It is the book that made me fall in love with gorgeous writing. *The characters are unforgettable. Just like Winnie, I quickly fell in love with the simplistic and kind Tucks. This wonderful little family who are either blessed or cursed to live forever got inside my head. At first, you think it would be wonderful to live forever, but when you hear the melancholy story of the Tucks, you pause and reconsider. There is something so endearing about the kind, sad Angus Tuck. Mae is sweet and motherly, the salt of the earth. Miles with his heartbreak makes me sad, and I truly hope that he finds a way to do something great. Jesse is the boy who stole my heart. I fell in love with this fun,spirited boy. Winnie at ten, is a girl who is wise beyond her years, and I admired her courage. I could go on and on, but I won't. Just read the book.*The story is simple and yet complex. Beautiful story telling that makes you think and ponder. I am still mulling over the book after all these years. I catch myself often during that first week of August wondering about the Tucks. It is the type of story that gets into your head, your heart and burrows into your soul and it never lets go. In my heart, I hope the Tucks are out there and that they have found their peace. And The Not So Much:*My only complaint is that the book is sweet and short and I crave more. I want to know what happened to Winnie after the fall out. How did her life turn out? Did she ever try to find the Tucks? Why did she make the decision she did regarding the water? I wish that there had been more on her. *I also was sad that in the final pages that there wasn't any mention of Miles and Jesse. How had they fared over all those years? What were they doing?Tuck Everlasting is the book from my childhood that still speaks to me all these years later. It is a magical, beautiful and haunting story about a girl who encounters a family with a big secret, a family either blessed or cursed with immortality. Leaving you to wonder what would you do if you could live forever? I urge you if you have not read this lovely little book to pick it up and do so. I have it forever on my shelf and I look forward to the day that I can read it to my children.I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.Posted@Rainy Day Ramblings.
February 20, 2012Like all the other kids in fifth grade, we are all reading Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt. I'd like to focus on Mae Tuck, the mother in the family. Now, Mae is a person, as you all know, who is different from the rest of the world. Along with her family members, who are also "different from the rest of the world." I shouldn't have to worry to much about spoiling her character, because everybody is pretty much at the same part of the book. Not that I was planning on spoiling, but just in case I go in to to much detail! Anyways! Mae, in my opinion is pretty important to this story- so far. She is very kind- hearted, and cares about others. Mae can tell that Winnie is missing home, and is a little confused about this whole situation. Mae takes care of that right away! From living forever, she really has realized what everybody needs! A lot of time for her to analyze what people need. Who would know that she would be so good with children? She does have two of her own, Jesse and Miles. So that might help with caring for kids. Overall, I think Mae is the character who makes this story tense and action packed. She came in on the horse when everything was about to go wrong, which started all the good parts. She also saved Winnie from a decision she would regret for the rest of her life. Some of you might not agree, but Mae is the one who puts this story into action!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------February 25, 2013Now- what's the theme for Tuck Everlasting? A lot of things, right? What keeps popping into my head, is exactly these words. "What others think of you shouldn't matter. What matters, is what you think of your self." If you really think into the story, that is a thought that pops up a lot! Mae is a nice person, but every friend she has ever had has thought she was so different, and that looking the same forever was crazy. From that, she has never had a loving friend. Just to say it- but what all her friends might be thinking about her is jealousy. They probably want to look young forever! I just had to put that thought out there! This theme comes up with Miles too. His wife left him because he thought he had some type of "Witch Magic." What made Miles even more unhappy was that she brought his kids with him! If I were Miles I would be thinking this about somebody who took MY family away from me"you never let anyone else have a word in this situation. What if they thought it was cool living forever!" Just so you know, in Jesse's situation, "everyone else" would be his kids. Angus Tuck too! This happened in his life, but he has a different point of view. He doesn't like living forever. He wants to age and die like everyone else. He sits around watching friends live a normal life while he lives a "living forever" life. I guess that example is pretty much the opposite of my theme, but if I tell you that it's the opposite than, maybe that will help you understand the real theme. Jesse Tuck doesn't know what his feelings really are. In the situation where he told Winnie, that when she turns sixteen, to drink the spring water, then her and Jesse can get married. So Jesse is a great person to follow my theme! He doesn't care what everyone thinks of him, he just cares about himself. Not in the selfish way, but in a good way! He always looks to the positive! Most of the other characters don't go along very well with my theme, but they sure go along with the story! Let me include this information real quick! Don't forget this book is by Natalie Babbitt. Thanks for letting me squeeze that in! My theme doesn't ONLY go along with the story, but it goes along with life. You should take my theme into consideration, al least I hope you will!
What do You think about Tuck Everlasting (1985)?
One could say that almost every book I read in my 5th grade class made some kind of an impression on me. Perhaps because these books were beyond the trite, fluff books I had been reading once I'd gotten over my reading difficulties. Such books like Sleepover Friends and Baby-Sitters Club passed the time. But my reading teacher (Mrs. Llewellyn) picked winners for every book. This one was a most definite favorite. Not only an interesting story, but one that made you think and truly ask yourself questions about what you believed and why.Read again for Children's Lit class in May 2006 for classic fiction lesson. Review: Still wonderful after 13 years. More symbolism than I first recognized. Great imagery. Tale to make you think. I agree with it being a classic.
—Heidi
Something in this book captures a very ordinary, real-life feel. Nothing is over dramatic, the story runs in an even flow. The story itself on a bigger picture is a contrast between living life with all the events that have to accompany it--including death--and running from those necessary events but not being able to live life. 10 year old Winnie meets a family who are going to live forever. When Winnie has the option to do so as well she has to decide what she really wants.I love children's books that deal well with universal human themes. This deals with the idea of death but also life at the same time, and it does so in a way that is still within the world of children. That being said, you may conclude I recommend it as a good book.
—Kirsten
2/18/13I am currently reading a book called Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt, along with the rest of 5th grade. So far, I like the character Winnie Foster, because I can really relate to her. Our ages are close and she seems like she has the same reactions that I would have to all the crazy things that have happened ever since she got kidnapped. Some things I find interesting about her though. Like the fact that she is in "love" with 17 year old, Jesse, and obviously he has feeling for her. He wants to get married and go on all kinds of adventures to explore the world. She also feels scared of course because she has been kidnapped by people that expect her to believe that they are immortal. A way I can relate to that is when you want to do the "fun" thing and believe it's the right thing, I'd say in this case, marrying Jesse, but I guess in reality the right thing is to keep life as it is and don't ruin the cycle of life. I think that she might be to "struck by love" to understand that the right thing is to listen to Angus. Anyway, I can't wait to read on and see what happens with the man in the yellow suit...! -----------------------------------------------------------------------2/25/13So far what I think the theme is, is that really, no matter what happens to you, you should make a good decision. Sometimes when you are tempted to do the wrong thing, you should think about the future consequences, and how it could affect you later, just like how Winnie should think about drinking the spring water and ruining her wheel of life. But what really stinks is that she likes Jesse and she wants to go for his idea about getting married and drinking the spring water. But she also wants to keep life as a "wheel" and wants to... unfortunately die, after all it is part of the human life cycle.
—Olivia L.
