A Vintage Reads YA Review: Tuck Everlasting

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, January 20, 2015 (originally published in 1974). 139 pages. Published by Square Fish. Source: Publisher.

2015 marks the 40th anniversary of Natalie Babbitt’s celebrated, ground-breaking title Tuck Everlasting (Anniversary edition on sale January 20). In celebration of the anniversary, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group will publish a special anniversary edition featuring an introduction from Wicked author Gregory Maguire.

Tuck Everlasting asks readers “What if you could live forever?” Doomed to, or blessed with, 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. Then complications arise when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune.

Upon the book’s publication in 1975, Natalie was greeted with concern from parents and educators who were stunned to read a book about death written for children. She is an author who challenges her readers and thinks the best questions are the ones without answers.

This 40th anniversary will introduce a whole new generation to this timeless classic. The book has sold over 3.5 million copies in the US alone, and has never been out of print since publication.

First Sentence:

The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning.

Guys, I am so excited to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting. As this was my first time reading about Tuck and Winnie, or anything by the author, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this wonderful book.

Tuck Everlasting was such a great read! From the very beginning I knew this was going to be a great read! Why, because Natalie Babbitt's writing just pulled me in with a handful of words. Yeah, I was a goner with just the opening words to the prologue; I both wanted to zip through the book in once sitting and to linger over the book for days on end. In the end, I settled for the middle ground and read it over two days (even when I could have finished it in a hour and change). Everything about Tuck Everlasting, the writing and the story-line, was beautifully done and so worth (finally) discovering.

I have been searching for the words for this review since just after Christmas, yet, it is only now that I feel I can finish out my thoughts on this wonderful book. There's just something magical and refreshing about Tuck Everlasting, even though this book is now forty years old it still feels lively, fresh and relevant which is saying something towards Ms. Babbitt's writing. Nearly a month after finishing Tuck Everlasting for the first time, Ms. Babbitt's writing and the story of the Tuck's and Winnie's encounter with them is still on my mind. This book has just stuck its claws into my brain and is probably going to wind up being my favorite read from 2014.  You know a books good when you just cannot get it off your mind weeks after reading it.

One of the reasons I found myself enjoying Tuck Everlasting as much as I did was the story-line. The question, "What if you could live forever?" was one that I was interested to see answered within the book. Not only did I want to see how Winnie would answer, would she choose to live forever and find Jesse or would she choose to live a normal life like Mr. Tuck wanted for her (and what he wished for himself). It is books with questions like these and characters that experience such polarizing views on the answer that really attract me as a reader. I like to see not only how the author will handle it within the book but also how circumstances will affect and lead the characters to act within it.
    

As this review is looking to keep growing in length, I am going to stop here. There's so much more I want to say about Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting yet there is so much that I wish for y'all to discover on your own, so, this is me cutting off the torrent of words of love.

So, what are your thoughts on Tuck Everlasting?

Final Verdict: Tuck Everlasting- Magical and captivating. It is no wonder that Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting is still so popular forty years later.

Tuck Everlasting earns

this book was received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.