Tuck Everlasting

Title: Tuck Everlasting

Author: Natalie Babbitt

Format: Chapter Book

Pages: 139 pp.

ISBN: 0-312-36981-6

Awards: ALA Notable Award

Review: Winnie Foster, a young 11-year old girl who meets a very interesting family. She lives in a quaint cottage in the town of Treegap. Her family owns a wood that has a water spring giving the drinker eternal life. The Tuck family find that out the hard way, drinking from the spring and finding out that they can never die. They share their secret with Winnie, asking he never to tell anyone, but also to consider drinking from the spring in order to join them when she gets a little older. This is a tale of a young person trying to find their way in life. Learning how to make their own decisions, and learning to trust others and themselves. I found it to be a wonderful story for young readers. It is a coming of age tale, told in a manner that has the reader questioning their own thoughts and beliefs about how they might act if they were in Winnie's shoes. The audience for this book, is any young person learning how to develop their own mind, and wanting relate to someone who has to make some pretty tough choices, following their heart, or conforming to the rules imposed by parents and other authority figures. It is magical, page turning, and a timeless tale that would grip any young reader.