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Friday, July 23, 2010

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit

Title: Tuck Everlasting
Author: Natalie Babbit
Publisher / Date: Square Fish / 2007; First Edition: Farrar, Straus and Giroux / 1975
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Summary: 
Set in the 1880's, the main character, eleven year old Winnie Foster, discovers water from a natural spring in the woods near her home. She starts to take a drink but is stopped by a stranger, Jesse Tuck, who warns her not to drink the water. Winnie meets Jesse's family and discovers that they once drank the water and became immortal. The Tuck's fear Winnie will share her knew knowledge and forever change her village so they take her to their home, on the outskirts of town. A mysterious man in a yellow suit witnesses it all and decides he can profit from this knowledge of the water that stops you from aging. Winnie must decide if she will drink of the water and forever remain 11, wait and drink it when she is older, or never drink it at all. The reader can't help but ponder the questions: What if you had the chance to never grow old? Would you take it? Is dying essential to living? 
Themes: Immortality, life and death, fantasy, symbolism
Curriculum connections:  Grades 4 and up: symbolism and imagery in literature; McGraw-Hill Teaching Guide:  http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/tuck_everlasting.pdf
Notes: mild issues of kidnapping and murder-- carefully consider your readers / listeners 

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