2.66k reviews for:

Tuck Everlasting

Natalie Babbitt

3.8 AVERAGE


Death! This book gave me some new things to think about in that regard, but I still think I'd rather live as an immortal, given the chance.

I didn't read this book aloud to my kids when they were young (or now that they are in the younger levels of adulthood) but it would make a great read-aloud story, I believe. Tuck would have a deep calm voice that slowly spells out his thoughts. And I could do a lot with the voice of the man in the yellow suit. Plus, it opens the door to talk about mortality.

I first read Tuck Everlasting in my 6th grade textbook and from that moment on I was hooked on reading. I picked this book up again hoping to find it as good as it was then and I wasn’t disappointed. This book is a classic children’s story about the circle of life and having a choice to live forever. The story is simple, but the themes are profound.

The one instance where I liked the movie better. Cute book though, and I love the frog.
adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring relaxing sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character

This was a very beautiful book. I will read it to my children because I feel like it helps understand death. Winnie in the book understands death better even though she does make a toad live forever, poor toad.

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I've seen the movie that came out a few years ago, and I thought I'd read the book as a child, but I was imagining a totally different ending. Regardless, I absolutely loved this book. The writing was so beautiful - I re-read the first page several times over because the sentences were perfection. The idea is also really unique - a family drinks from an innocent-looking spring only to find the water basically froze them in time. They never age, and nothing can kill them - which is both a blessing and a curse. When Winnie stumbles across the family, she's swept in by them and their magical lives. Really makes you ponder if you'd drink from that spring or not.
emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Liked the movie more.

Great AR book for my fifth grader that I happily reread as an adult. Love this book forever and always.

This was in the back of my mind for a long time as one of those classics I really should read. Although it's classified as children's literature it's really very adult in tone and seriousness of theme. The author takes large ideas and formulates them for young readers without resorting to "dumbing down."

Ten-year-0ld Winnie Foster suddenly finds herself in the company of the Tucks, a family of odd but likeable people who turn out to be immune to death. She must choose whether to keep their secret or reveal it, whether to stay in her safe little world or to venture beyond it, whether to avail herself of immortality or to decline it.

The idea of humans making choices about immortality is not new or original. It appears in the Bible and in various mythologies. It also shows up in other genres such as fantasy, science fiction and horror. But Babbitt's treatment of this theme is unique: it is tragic, comic, touching, bittersweet and unforgettable.