Tuck Everlasting

Tuck Everlasting

Hardcover - USA - 1st edition.

Author Natalie Babbitt Published 1975-??-?? Type Fiction Genre Fantasy Themes Fantasy, Immortality, Urban Fantasy Age Group Children

Tuck Everlasting is an urban fantasy children's novel written by Natalie Babbitt and published in 1975.

The book takes place in the summer of 1880 and revolves around a 10-year-old girl who stumbles upon a family of people who claim to be immortal.

Personal

Own?	No.
Read?	Audiobook read by Peter Thomas.
Finished	2025-01-31.

When I was maybe around 10-14, I remember my cousin Brian reading me an excerpt from the book where Winnie meets Jesse at the spring, but I since forgot about the book. I remembered it when I saw a trailer for the 2002 movie, but never watched it or read it at the time. Knowing it was an important title, I decided to read it. I saw parallels with earlier fiction like Way Station and The Door into Summer.

Review

Overall:

Good

• The book presents an interesting quandary. If there were a fountain of youth, wouldn't it be beneficial to give it to the brightest and best humans which would allow their genius to last longer than just a mortal lifetime? However, the man in the yellow suit gives us a pretty good idea for how this would actually play out: it wouldn't be the brightest and best, it would be the people with the most influence and power, and they're rarely altruistic. And even some of the smartest people in history had severe flaws in their character and values, for example, Isaac Newton. As it is, the Tucks, with their lack of ambition, were probably the best folk to become immortal, since they were caring and had no desire to profit from it.
• I like how the boys, despite each being over 100 years old, still act like boys, indicating that some of aspect of their youthfulness is retained, a further side effect of the water.
• There is a powerful moment when Tuck sees the man near death and becomes entranced, wishing he could death.
• I like how the book ends with the Tucks discovering Winnie lived her life properly. I'm also glad Babbitt didn't take the rather creepy approach Heinlein took in The Door into Summer.

Bad

• I wish Babbitt had made the Tucks a bit older. 87 additional years is a long time to be alive, but not too far outside of the realm of a typical lifetime. If they were hundreds or thousands of years old, their philosophizing and urge to die would be more interesting, and they could talk about what they learned from living through major historical events.
• By making the drinkers of the spring, not just ageless, but also invincible, Babbitt introduces a whole lot of problems that go unresolved in the book. The violation of dozens of laws of physics, of course, but also consider what would happen if they were put in a state of constant fatality: falling into lava, for example. Also, think what would happen if the invincible toad were swallowed by a snake. It would have to sit in the stomach and be slowly but constantly be digested in acid until the snake eventually died!
• Involving Winnie in the jail break was unnecessary. The Tucks are invincible and there were three of them. They could simply approach the jail at night, overpower the constable, tie him up, and be on their way.
• Jesse giving Winnie a bottle of the water doesn't make sense considering she lives right next to the spring, nor does her using it on the toad. The author even points out why this is unnecessary.

Ugly

• The scene where the man in the yellow suit confronts the Tucks is out of character. He may think he's superior to them because of his education and family background, but to believe he could just waltz into the Tuck's home and take Winnie away by force from four people he knows to be invincible is just ridiculous. Especially considering he knew he was just moments away from his dream of becoming invincible himself. He becomes a cartoon villain when he suggests he will forcefully make Winnie drink the water.

Media

Covers

• 

  Hardcover - USA - 1975 - Scholastic - 1st edition.

• 

  Paperback - UK - 2003 - Bloomsbury.

• 

  Paperback - USA - 2007 - MacMillan.

• 

  Hardcover - USA - 2015 - MacMillan.

• 

  Paperback - USA - 2018 - Thorndike.

• 

  Paperback - USA - 2020 - Bloomsbury.

• 

  Hardcover - USA - 2025 - MacMillan.

Representation

Strong female character?	Pass	Winnie and Mae are both pretty strong, and Winnie grows as a character throughout the books.
Bechdel test?	Pass	Winnie and Mae talk numerous times to each other.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	I think everyone is white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Quotes

• It'd be nice to have a new name, to start with, one that's not all worn out from being called so much.
• Don't be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don't have to live forever, you just have to live.
• Life's got to be lived, no matter how long or short. You got to take what comes.
• You can't have living without dying. So you can't call it living, what we got. We just are, we just be, like rocks beside the road.

Adaptions

The book was adapted into a made-for-TV movie in 1981, a feature film in 2002, a stage musical in 2016, and a graphic novel in 2025. It has been performed as an audiobook at least twice.

Links