Review of "Tuck Everlasting"

"And, so far as I know, I'll stay seventeen till the end of the world."

     Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting is the kind of book children may pick up with apprehension, but when they finally put it down after a long day of reading, it's all they'll want to talk about. Winifred Foster is a ten-year-old girl from a rich, overprotective family. She lives in a snooty cottage on the edge of town, and is never allowed past the front gate. But when she slips out one morning and visits the family's wood, she discovers a boy: seventeen-year-old Jesse Tuck, who drinks from a spring she cannot touch and who claims he is a hundred and four years old. Soon Winnie is swept up in a fantasy story as old as time itself, which will last until the end of the world--unless a man with smooth words and a yellow suit has his say, in which case the Tucks, and our planet, will never be the same again.

     Babbitt's storytelling is, at first, a little odd on the tongue: lots of "for"s and analogies. After the first chapter, however, it becomes a natural part of the world in which the story takes place. Treegap, the little village where the Foster family lives, is described with the barest physical detail, but the world--the weather, the townspeople's attitude, the constable's pride at his new jailhouse--is crafted with such care it's impossible not to fill in the blanks with realistic colors and scents. Babbitt also works in a bit of humor imaginative children will find pleasantly surprising.

      Winnie is a rather blank character. She's been kept indoors the vast majority of her life, far from the outside world, so it follows that she has never had a chance to develop a personality of her own. Thus, it is a great pleasure to watch her develop over the course of the book. From wanting things because she can to sacrificing a great deal to help a woman she barely knows, Winnie's journey is long and complex, full of ups and downs that will surely keep readers enthralled.

     Tuck Everlasting is about Winnie, but it is also about the Tucks. This charming family consists of a mother, father, and two sons--Jesse and Miles--as well as a horse, all of whom are immortal. Described with loving detail, physical appearances are insightful and bare at the same time, leaving much to the reader's imagination while crafting a solid, very real presence on the page. The Tucks don't change much as the book goes on, but that is all right because it's intentional, a statement. They are, after all, frozen in time. When danger threatens this lovable clan, all must pull their weight to stand against it, and the test of character that follows gives a great view of the characters, as a group and as individuals.

     This book was written for children, but there's no reason adults shouldn't enjoy it as well. Characters don't curse, except for one "tarnation", which can be excused due to extenuating circumstances. There isn't any romance. However, Winnie does have a small crush on one of the boys, who suggests that they get married when she's caught up to his age. Nothing comes of it, however--Winnie is, after all, only ten. There is not much in the way of action, although there is one death. The primary conflict is how to keep people from figuring out the Tucks cannot, in fact, die.

     I would recommend Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting to anyone interested in a fun, lighthearted children's book about a family who lives forever. With her brilliant writing style and eyecatching premise, Babbitt perfectly reels in readers and keeps them on the edge of their seats with every passing chapter. The theme is explored from all sides with subtle wit and a dynamic cast that interacts beautifully. It is for all these reasons, then, that I give her book five stars out of five.