Tuck Everlasting

Scholastic BookFiles
A READING GUIDE TO
Tuck Everlasting
by Natalie Babbitt
Hannah Mitchell
Copyright 2004 by Scholastic Inc. Interview 2004 by Natalie Babbitt Flapjack recipe 2004 by Kristin James All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Scholastic BookFiles: A reading guide to Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt/Hannah Mitchell. p. cm. Summary: Discusses the writing, characters, plot, and themes of this 1975 novel. Includes discussion questions and activities. Includes bibliographical references (p. ). 1. Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck EverlastingJuvenile literature. 2. Immortalism in literatureJuvenile literature. [1. Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting. 2. American literature History and criticism.] I. Title. II. Series. PS3552.A1735T85 813.54dc21 0-439-53821-1 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 04 05 06 07 08 2004 2003050391
Composition by Brad Walrod/High Text Graphics, Inc. Cover and interior design by Red Herring Design Printed in the U.S.A. 23 First printing, March 2004
Contents
About Natalie Babbitt How Tuck Everlasting Came About An Interview with Natalie Babbitt Chapter Charter: Questions to Guide Your Reading Plot: Whats Happening? Setting/Place and Time: Where in the World Are We? Themes/Layers of Meaning: Is That What It
5 8 10 17 23 28 32 39 46 48 50 52 54 57 59
Really Means?
Characters: Who Are These People, Anyway? Opinion: What Have Other People Thought About
Tuck Everlasting?
Glossary Natalie Babbitt on Writing You Be the Author! Activities Related Reading Bibliography
About Natalie Babbitt
Theres always one best word, if you listen for it.

Natalie Babbitt
atalie Babbitt is an artist in more ways than one. Known by many people for her descriptive, metaphorical writing,
she is less well known for her beautiful illustrations. However, it was this passion that involved her in childrens books in the rst place. Born in Dayton, Ohio, on July 28, 1932, Natalie Zane Moore [Babbitt] came into the world at the height of the Great Depression. Thanks to her parents, though, she and her sister enjoyed a life lled with good times, books, and loads of loving encouragement. Natalie loved drawing from an early age. Though she read books constantly, she had very little interest in writing them. She wanted only to illustrate, to bring words to life. She dreamed of capturing imaginations the very same way her imagination had been taken captive by the illustrations in Alices Adventures in Wonderland, one of her favorite books. With her mothers support, Natalie was able to develop her passion and her talent. She also had a great deal of support from her teachers
at Laurel School in Cleveland. After high school, she went on to study art at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Love interrupted her art career and Natalie married Samuel Fisher Babbitt, an academic administrator, right after her college graduation. They spent the next ten years in Connecticut, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C., where Babbitt raised their children, Christopher, Tom, and Lucy. Eventually, Babbitt got back to drawing when she illustrated a book written by her husband, called The Forty-Ninth Magician. They thought it was the beginning of an ideal collaboration. However, after moving to Clinton, New York, her husbands career responsibilities left him with little time to dedicate to his writing. So Natalie Babbitt decided that if she wanted to create books for children, she would simply have to write and illustrate them herself. Her rst two picture books, Dick Foote and the Shark and Phoebes Revolt, were written in easy rhyme, a style Natalie thought suited her better than prose. Babbitts faith in herself as an artist and a writer turned out to be momentous for her and for readers everywhere. Though she started by writing and illustrating picture books for younger children, soon one of her ideas developed into the novel that would eventually make her one of the preeminent childrens novelists of our time. In that novel, The Search for Delicious, Babbitt incorporated her love of fairy tales. The book was greeted by childrens book reviewers as the rst major work of an exciting new talent.
Natalie Babbitts subsequent books have consistently achieved a place on the major lists of outstanding childrens literature in the years of their publication. The Devils Storybook was nominated for a National Book Award in 1975, named an American Library Association (ALA) Notable Book, and received the Christopher and Lewis Carroll Shelf awards. Kneeknock Rise was a Newbery Honor Book in 1971; Goody Hall was chosen as an Honor Book in the 1971 Book World Childrens Spring Book Festival; and two of Babbitts books have been selected for inclusion in the Childrens Book Councils Childrens Book Showcase: Goody Hall in 1972 and More Small Poems, illustrated by Babbitt and written by poet Valerie Worth, in 1977. In 1981, Babbitt was the U.S. nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, an award presented by the International Board on Books for Young People in recognition of someone whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to childrens literature. (This award is the highest international recognition given to an author and an illustrator of childrens books.) All of these books, including The Eyes of the Amaryllis, were also ALA Notable Childrens Books. Natalie Babbitt is perhaps best known for her magical book, Tuck Everlasting. Babbitt has brought books to life for children just as she had always hoped she would. She has created worlds that mesh fantasy and reality. She allows readers to go to places that might not be real exactly, but are certainly true to life.
How Tuck Everlasting Came About
Winnie blinked, and all at once her mind was drowned with understanding of what he was saying. For sheyes, even shewould go out of the world willy-nilly someday. Just go out, like the flame of a candle, and no use protesting. It was a certainty.
Tuck Everlasting
here comes a moment in all young peoples lives when they realize that they are not going to live forever. Whether the
thought is prompted by the death of a beloved pet or of a relative or friend, the realization changes the person. This is why Natalie Babbitt felt compelled to write about deathor in this case, life without death and its implications. Babbitt says, I think its something that everyone thinks of from the time when they realize they cant [live forever]. Even before youre six because you have a pet or a grandmother [whom youve lost] and you begin to wonder about it. So I thought it would be interesting to write a book about real people, ordinary peoplenot like the people in fairy tales who are always living
happily ever after. But, what would [living forever] really be like in the real world. In Tuck Everlasting, Babbitt created Winnie, a character who feels that her life is meaningless and boring. The prospect of living forever is exciting to her. In the course of the novel, as she gets to know the Tucks, Winnie listens to different opinions about eternal life: Jesse is hopeful, Miles is realistic, Mae is determined, and Angus is depressed. Winnie comes to understand that eternal life might be a curse and not a blessing. This novel is Babbitts way of introducing the life cycle and explaining the beauty of living in the moment. Babbitt seems to say that life is short and your time on earth ought to be meaningful in some way. Babbitt says, [Tuck Everlasting] presents dilemmas, and I think thats what life does! I dealt with a lot of dilemmas before I even started school. I think a lot of adults would like to think that things are simple for kids, but thats not so. . . . I think the book doesnt present any lessons about whats right and whats wrong, but it does point out how difcult these decisions are.
An Interview with Natalie Babbitt
About Tuck Everlasting

You have said that you are always surprised when people nd this story unusual. You think eternal life is quite an ordinary dilemma to think about. Why then do you think the issue is so compelling to both children and adults? Its very interesting when I go to schools and talk to students. They are so direct and they usually say, well yes it would be neat [to live forever] but I wouldnt want to do that because x, y, and z. All the same reasons I would give. And once in a while I get a child who is very upset by the ending and we talk about that, too. There is no right or wrong way to look at it. I tell them that at different times in your life you feel differently about it.
You have noted that some readers have not been satised with the ending. Why do you think some readers arent satised with Winnies choice? It is mainly girls who feel that way. They have been quite charmed by Jesse and they think she should marry him. I always have a good laugh about that because he is charming but I think hed make a terrible husband!
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But most of them do change their minds about it later on. In fact, a young girl wrote to tell me that she was so very disappointed with the ending and I wrote back to her to say that that was okaythere is no right or wrong way to feel. Seven years later, the same girl wrote to me and said that she had changed her mind, and that she realized the book had ended the way it was supposed to. I always tell kids about that because thats beautiful.
You have said that Tuck Everlasting doesnt exactly teach a lesson; rather, that it presents dilemmas. Does that mean that you think there is no right or wrong answer to the biggest dilemma of the book? Doesnt Tuck Everlasting disapprove of someone choosing eternal life over natural death? Winnie does what I would have done. There are plenty of people who wouldnt have done it, though. Particularly if there was someone to share eternity with. I think it would be very boring, and even with the right person I think it would be lonely. The fact that we dont have a lot of time puts a lot of delicious pressure on us to do things. But theres no law that says thats the way you have to feel about it.
The book has an anyplace, anytime feel to it. Do you think the setting is important to the story? Although I am from Ohio, Tuck Everlasting is based mainly on upstate New York. I can remember learning that there was a forest that went on through about ve different states. I always
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thought that was pretty interesting and thats what Winnies grandmother says. So I had that in mind, also. But Tucks house and pond are based on a real place that we owned years ago. It doesnt really matter, though. The book could be set anywhere that isnt desert or mountain. The wood is the important part.
Some people have said that you essentially turn religion on its head in this novel. Did religion come into play for you? Are you surprised that some people read it that way? I thought [that interpretation] was extremely interesting because I had never thought about that. Formal religion has always been a difculty for me in terms of guring it out. I like things to be spelled out. I read a lot of Greek and Roman myths as a child that was my favorite kind of reading in addition to fairy tales and I always felt that the logic in those stories was much more obvious than the logic in the Bible because you didnt have to be perfect. I had a lot of trouble with that as a child. I couldnt be perfect. So, I dont know how much of a role that played in the book. But it might well be in there. I dont object to that. Tuck Everlasting is a different type of fantasy than [the type] kids these days are accustomed to. In fact, it is the simple fact that living forever is an option that places this book in the fantasy genre.
Does the imagery you use in your writing come from being an artist? For example, in Tuck Everlasting you describe August as
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having blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color. I guess there is a picturesque quality that comes into play and that probably does come from the same place. My mother was a painter and she trained my sister and me to look at things early on. It probably comes from that, too. I am a relatively passive person, so I love to look at things. That part is fun.
You have said that you use metaphors and similes because they help readers understand things that they otherwise might not. But what about personication? It seems to come into play a lot in this book. For example, grass is forlorn, the house is proud of itself, and the cows are wise. Where does that come from for you? We were a word-loving family. It probably comes from my father more than anywhere else. He did very funny things with language in that way.
About being a writer

Will you describe your writing process? I have to get everything all gured out in my head before I start. How [the story] will begin and end, who the characters are, what their names are, where it will happenall the details of that kind. I write straight through then, although it takes me quite a long time because I rewrite as I go along. There arent any rules about how to do it.
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You have been criticized for being too descriptive. How do you feel about that? Well, perhaps some of the books are wordier than they need to be. Thats hard for some people.
Do you write every day? No. I used to. Although, I never was a fast writer. It takes me a year to write a novel and thats not counting the time it takes me to plan it out.
What happens when you get blocked? Ive never been in much of a hurry. The writers block comes for me when I cant work out a plot. The rest of it, the writing, I really enjoy and I nd that relatively easy. We all use words all the time, so its a universal thing for us. But I get hung up on plotsplotting is hard for me.
What are you working on now? Ive got about two more ideas and that will be it.
How did you become a writer? I originally wanted to be an illustrator, so my husband wrote the rst book. But he didnt want to do that anymore because he was
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busy. He is more of a people person and he just couldnt be alone as much as you have to. No one ever said to me in a writing class that being alone is a part of it [being a writer], but it certainly is. You have to like to be by yourself. So, I gured I could write books in verse because I had always written a lot of versenot poetry but verse [verse is a form of writing in which words are arranged in a rhythmic pattern but is less structured than traditional poetry]. So, the rst two books I did were in verse. I had a lot of fun with those but then my editor said that I would have a lot more freedom if I were writing in prose, so I sat down to write a little picture-book story and it just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger and became The Search for Delicious. It might sound silly but I [wrote a novel] before I knew how hard it was to do. After that, it became more difcult and it continues to become more difcult because youre more conscious of what youre doing and that makes it hard. Writing is extremely hard work.
Does the acclaim that youve received put pressure on you when you sit down to write a new book? Ambition is a strange thing. I never had very much. I just wanted to do one book. But there are a lot of things I like to do. I like to make things, knit, and play the piano. So, I wasnt particularly single-minded about it.
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What happened to the idea of being an artist? I wanted to be an artist, but it seemed clear to me early on that I was adequate, but that was all I was ever going to be. We have a lot of marvelous illustrators, [Maurice] Sendak being my favorite. I actually think we have more ne illustrators than we have ne writers.
Did you always know that you wanted to do books for children? Oh yes, and thats because of Alice in Wonderland. John Tenniels illustrations in the original Alice in Wonderland just knocked my socks off! Those pictures are very beautiful and very funny and thats such a wonderful combination. You see that a lot now, but when I was a child, they were either cartoons or incredible paintings.
When did you start to think about what you would be when you grew up? I wanted to be a librarian when I was in second grade, and then in fourth grade I decided I wanted to be an illustrator. I have a huge respect for librarians and teachers. It is some of the most important work anybody can do. My daughter is a teacher for second grade and she published three novels for teenagersshes a great writer. I dont think I could have [taught] because I dont think Im a people kind of person. I prefer to work alone. But thank God there are people who prefer to do that kind of work. We owe them so much.
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Chapter Charter: Questions to Guide Your Reading
he following questions will help you think about the important parts of each chapter.
Prologue How does the author describe the setting in this section? Why do you think she chooses to be so mysterious in the prologue? Chapter 1 How does the authors use of language help you to understand the setting? Why arent the Fosters curious about the wood? If you were Winnie, do you think you might have wanted to explore the wood? Why or why not? Chapter 2 Why does Angus Tuck consider his dream about heaven a good dream? Why do you think Mae Tuck doesnt care about her appearance anymore? Chapter 3 What do you think Winnies life is like? How does it compare to your life?
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Why does Winnie throw stones at the toad? What emotion do you think she is feeling? Why does Winnie tell the toad she wants to run away? Chapter 4 What is your rst impression of the man in the yellow suit? Does the author give you any clues about his character? Where do you think the music that Winnies grandmother hears comes from? Chapter 5 What do you think Jesse is thinking when he tries to prevent Winnie from drinking the spring water? What does Mae mean when she says, The worst is happening at last? Chapter 6 Why do the Tucks kidnap Winnie? What do you think you would have done in Winnies place? Why does Winnie feel reassured when she hears the music box? Chapter 7 How had the Tucks gured out they were going to live forever? Why do you think the man in the yellow suit is following Winnie and the Tucks? Chapter 8 Why does Winnie begin to feel happy about being with the Tucks?
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The man in the yellow suit overhears the Tucks story. What do you think he might be planning? Chapter 9 It takes many hours for Winnie, Mae, Jesse, and Miles to reach the Tucks home. Why do you think they live in such a hard-toreach place? Why do you think Angus Tuck is so happy to meet Winnie? Chapter 10 Do you think Mae thinks of her life as blessed or cursed? Why? Why is Winnie so amazed at the inside of the Tucks home? Chapter 11 Why does Winnie suddenly want to go home? Chapter 12 Why does Angus Tuck take Winnie to the pond to talk to her? How is the movement of the pond water meaningful to their conversation about the life cycle? Chapter 13 Why do you think the man in the yellow suit goes to the Fosters instead of to the police? Chapter 14 Why does Winnie go back and forth, rst liking the disorder of the Tucks lifestyle, then longing for her regular bedtime routine? How do the Tucks make Winnie feel better?
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As Winnie tries to fall asleep, she cant decide whether or not to believe the Tucks story. Would you have believed it? Why or why not? Chapter 15 Why do you think the man in the yellow suit wants to trade his knowledge of Winnies whereabouts for the Fosters wood? What do the man in the yellow suits actions tell you about his character? Chapter 16 Why is the constable surprised that the Fosters agree to sell the wood? Is the constable suspicious of the man in the yellow suits motives? Chapter 17 How does swatting a mosquito make Winnie realize that dying is a natural part of the life cycle? Why does Winnie insist that Miles throw the sh back? Chapter 18 Why do you think Miles conceals the reason that he and Winnie return without any sh? How have Winnies feelings for the Tucks changed? Do you think she has stronger feelings for some of the Tucks than others?
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Chapter 19 Why does the man in the yellow suit see the Tucks as selsh? Mae Tuck hits the man over the head with the gun. Do you think she does the right thing? Does she have another option? Chapter 20 Why does Winnie lie to the constable? Angus Tuck stares at the man in the yellow suit after Mae hits him. What do you think he is thinking about? Why does Winnie seem horried at Angus Tucks reaction? Chapter 21 Do you think the Fosters regret selling the wood? What makes Winnies family think she has changed? Chapter 22 Why does Winnie volunteer to help rescue Mae? Do you think Jesse should have given Winnie the spring water? Why or why not? Chapter 23 Why does being disheveled make Winnies mother and grandmother more interesting? Why does Winnie feel so good and right about what she is about to do? Chapter 24 How do you think Winnie feels helping Mae escape? Do you think Winnie does the right thing in freeing Mae? Why?
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Chapter 25 How does Winnies reputation in the village change after she helps Mae? Why do you think Winnie saves the toad from the dog? What important decision does Winnie make when she pours the spring water on the toad? Epilogue How does the author connect Winnie and the Tucks at the end of the story? Why does Angus Tuck say, Good girl, when he sees Winnies grave?
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Plot: Whats Happening?
Lifes got to be lived, no matter how long or short. . . .

Mae Tuck, Tuck Everlasting
uck Everlasting is the story of a young girl named Winnie whose life in the small town of Treegap turns magical when
she explores the wood in search of adventure and independence. At the beginning of this novella, or short novel, Winnie Foster is bored. She wants something interesting to happen to her. Winnie looks to a toad in her front yard for advice. Should she run away? She resolves to think it over and decide in the morning. That same evening, a man in a yellow suit comes by and engages Winnie in a conversation. He wants to know how long Winnies family has lived in the area and if they know all their neighbors. Winnie has a bad feeling about him, which we learn when the narrator says that Winnie was suddenly reminded of the stiff black ribbons they had hung on the door of the cottage for her grandfathers funeral. When she tells the man that her family has lived there forever, he echoes the word forever. He tells her that he is looking for someone, a family to be specic. At that, Winnies grandmother comes out and makes it clear that neither she nor her granddaughter talks with strangers. She is
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interrupted, though, by the faint sound of music, which she rst heard many years ago and which she describes as elf music. The next morning, Winnie is still unwilling to make a nal decision about running away. She decides to go for a short walk into the wood that her family owns but that she has never before bothered to explore. She will decide once she gets there if shes ever coming back. Soon, she comes upon Jesse Tuck taking a drink of water from a natural spring. He notices her and calls her out of her hiding place. When Winnie tries to drink from the same spring, he tries to stop her. To Jesses relief, Mae and Miles Tuck arrive on horseback. Thinking quickly, the family kidnaps Winnie to prevent her from drinking the water from the spring. Winnie is scared and confused. Why is this nice family taking her away? Why wouldnt they let her drink from the spring? As Winnie is taken away by the Tucks, she sees the man in the yellow suit. When they stop by a stream for a break, Winnie begins to cry. Mae Tuck reaches into her pocket for her music box, and when it starts to play, it calms Winnie. She decides that no one who owned a thing like this could be too disagreeable. It is then that the Tucks tell her their story. Eighty-seven years before, the Tuck family had become immortal by drinking water from the magical spring. They didnt know it immediately, but they found out that the water would keep them aliveat the age they were the day they drank itforever. They will stop at nothing to prevent others from enduring the same fate.
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Even though she is not sure whether or not to believe them, Winnie agrees to go home with them until they gure out what to do. Unbeknownst to the whole group, the man in the yellow suit has heard the whole story. When they arrive at the Tucks house, Winnie meets Maes husband, Angus Tuck. Winnie becomes fond of the Tucks as they set out to teach her why it is so important that no one nd out about the spring. Each one tries to show her that eternal life is a terrible burden. In the meantime, the man in the yellow suit shows up at the Fosters door with a deal in mind. He will get Winnie back in exchange for ownership of their wood. Desperate to get Winnie back, her parents agree. When the man in the yellow suit tells the constable about the deal hes struck with the Fosters, the constable is a little suspicious, but he follows the man to the Tucks, anyway. The man in the yellow suit arrives before the constable, however, and confronts the Tucks with his knowledge. He tells them that his plan is to let the whole world know of this fountain of youth, but that he will only sell the water to people worthy of it. He even suggests using the Tucks as examples of the waters effects. The Tucks are outraged at the prospect of being treated like freaks. The man in the yellow suit takes hold of Winnie and threatens to make her drink the spring water if they refuse to cooperate with him. Mae Tuck grabs Anguss gun and hits the man in the yellow suit over the head with it. The man falls to the ground unconscious.
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The constable arrives just in time to see what Mae has done. The Tucks and Winnie try to explain that Mae struck him because he had threatened to take Winnie from them. The constable takes Mae into custody and explains that if the man dies, she will go to the gallows (a structure from which criminals are executed by hanging). At that moment, they realize what will happen if Mae is sent to the gallows. When she doesnt die, the whole world will understand that she cant die and the secret will be out. The constable returns Winnie to her family. Later she learns that the man in the yellow suit has died. Winnie decides that she must help; she cannot let Mae go to the gallows. The next day Jesse tells her about their plan to help Mae escape at midnight. Jesse also gives Winnie a little bottle of the spring water. He tells her to think about drinking it when she turns seventeen so that they can get married and be together forever. Before Jesse leaves, Winnie volunteers to help with Maes escape from jail. At midnight, Winnie sneaks out of her house and meets the Tucks at the prison. Together, they pry off the window frame of the cell so that Mae can get out and Winnie can crawl inside. Winnie then takes Maes place. Winnie waits through the night in the cell, hiding under the cot blanket until the constable discovers her in the morning. Although everyone is upset with her, she feels proud of what she has done. She has rescued the Tucks and helped save the world from the dangers and disappointments of eternal life.
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In the nal chapter, Winnie nds that some people look at her differently now. Because she got into trouble, people are more interested in her. The book ends with an epilogue in which the Tucks pull into Treegap many years in the future. They learn that the wood has long since been bulldozed and that Winifred Foster has died two years before. They feel sad for Jesse, but they are satised that Winnie had decided to live her life as it should be lived, with an end in sight.
Thinking about the plot

Why is it important for Winnie to understand why she must keep the Tucks secret? How does Winnies life change through her experiences? How do Winnies decisions affect the outcome of the book?
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Setting/Place and Time: Where in the World Are We?
The house was so proud of itself that you wanted to make a lot of noise as you passed, and maybe even throw a rock or two. But the wood had a sleeping otherworld appearance that made you want to speak in whispers.
Tuck Everlasting
uck Everlasting takes place in and around a small town named Treegap. Natalie Babbitt does not give us much
information about exactly where in the world this town is located. By leaving out specic details about the region, country, or even continent where this story takes place, the author lets the reader know that the location is not the most important part of the book. The events that occur in Tuck Everlasting could occur in any ordinary town.
Place
In Tuck Everlasting, the description of the surroundingsthe town of Treegap, the Fosters house, the wood, and the Tucks housedraws the reader into this very special place. In the rst
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chapter the author starts to establish the setting by describing the road that leads to Treegap: But on reaching the shadows of the rst trees, it veered sharply, swung out in a wide arc as if, for the rst time, it had reason to think where it was going, and passed around [the wood]. Babbitt traces the road as it wanders along curves, comes to a small hill, and ambles down to a meadow, coming at last to a wood. She wants her reader to know from the start that the town, the wood, and the road are all mentioned on purpose. She wants the reader to sense that somehow the road knew to veer sharply away from the wood and lead elsewhere instead. On the other side of that wood, she continues, the sense of easiness dissolved, in the small town on the edge of the wood. The road no longer belonged to the cows. It became, instead, and rather abruptly, the property of people. At the very edge of Treegap the road goes by the Fosters cottage. Its touch-me-not appearance suggests that its owners do not welcome visitors. The description of the Fosters house, which is kept in tip-top shape and is run with a great deal of care and attention, gives the reader information about the people who live there. The Fosters are protective of their property, which Babbitt describes as surrounded by grass cut painfully to the quick and enclosed by a capable iron fence some four feet high which clearly said, Move onwe dont want you here. In the same chapter, we learn that the Fosters, who own and inhabit that rst, proud house, also own the wood. Because it is the property of the Fosters, other people generally leave the wood alone.
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In stark contrast to the Fosters house, the Tucks house in the wood is described as being in a state of disarray. Babbitt uses their house to represent disorder. Just as the Fosters house is neat and uninviting, the Tucks house is terribly messy but warm just like its inhabitants. The Tucks house paints a picture of who they are. Warm and welcoming, it is a house lled with the clutter that has accumulated over too much time. Babbitt makes it clear from the start that the village itself doesnt matter, except for the jailhouse and the gallows. She lets the reader know that only that rst house is important, the rst house, the road, and the wood.
Time
The author gives us some clues about the time period of this novel. Through details like Winnies high-button shoes and the fact that the characters ride on horseback and in wagons rather than in cars, we know that the story probably takes place in the 1800s. At the very end, we learn the exact year the story takes place when the Tucks come upon Winnies gravestone. It gives the years of her birth and death: 18701948. From this we know that the year she meets the Tucks is 1881 (because she is almost eleven), and that it is 1950 when the Tucks return to Treegap. The epilogue also reveals how the area has changed with the passage of time. The Tucks are still traveling on horseback. When they pull into Treegap, they are laughed at by a man at a gas station. Babbitt introduces a gas station and a man in greasy coveralls to show how things have changed even though the
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Tucks have remained exactly the same. The introduction of this new time period reminds us that though the rest of the world, even Treegap, has evolved, the Tucks have not. They cannot. The setting of this story is simplesimple people living in an old-fashioned place and time. Babbitt creates an uncomplicated place for a complicated issue. Perhaps she chose it for that very reason, so that it would be easy to get to the heart of Winnies dilemma without modern or urban obstacles. If there were computers and airplanes, televisions and shopping malls, it might have been difcult to focus on the essential problems of eternal life. Instead, the setting is uncomplicatedsome houses, a dirt road, a jail with gallows, and a wood. The simple setting allows Winnie to talk with a toad, wander off alone into the wood, sit in a rowboat on a pond, and observe the cycle of life up close. Babbitt uses all of this to keep the reader focused on the story line and the dilemma of eternal life.
Thinking about the setting

Why is the fact that no road goes directly through the wood important? What do you think the author means when she writes that the roads sense of easiness dissolved at the edge of the wood? What descriptive words does the author use to describe the two different environments of the Fosters home and the Tucks home?
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Themes/Layers of Meaning: Is That What It Really Means?
Everythings a wheel, turning and turning, never stopping.

Angus Tuck, Tuck Everlasting
uck Everlasting has several themes, or layers of meaning. (The theme of a literary work is its main idea and often is a
general statement or opinion about life.) Natalie Babbitt uses metaphors and symbols to make the most important themes clear to the reader. A metaphor is a way of describing one thing by comparing it to something else.
Order versus disorder

Throughout the book there is a constant mention of the order of things. This applies to the order of the Fosters world, particularly their house. But it also applies to the order of life. All things are born, live, and then die. The Tucks represent an interruption of this orderan eternal interruption of that order to be exact. Babbitt shows this disorder in a few ways. First, when Winnie arrives at their house, she is shocked at the state of disarray it is in: lots of dust and cobwebs, a mouse living in the table drawer, half-completed quilts. The house is a stark contrast to the one Winnie lives in. When she sees all of this, all she can think is:
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Maybe its because they think they have forever to clean it up. The author uses the disorder to show that Winnie is being exposed to a different way of living for the rst time. She lets Winnie follow her thought a little further when Winnie thinks to herself, Maybe they just dont care! In fact, later when there are no napkins for her to use to wipe her hands properly, Winnie realizes that in this house it is quite all right to lick the maple syrup off your ngers. Winnie was never allowed to do such a thing at home, but she had always thought it would be the easiest way. And suddenly the meal seemed luxurious. The author has accomplished two things. She has set up an orderly world versus a disorderly one, while praising the virtues and the shortcomings of both. In an orderly world, you have to clean up after yourself and keep everything in neat stacks, but the world goes on as it shouldeveryone living and dying and so on and so on. In the disorderly world, you can lick maple syrup off your hands and throw your clothes on the oor, but the people are stuck forever in one place in their lives. In a way, the disarray of the Tucks house represents the disarray the world would be in if the secret spring were revealed to the public. Ultimately, Winnie learns to incorporate some of the Tucks way of living into her own life, taking certain lessons from her time with them. She realizes that her mother and grandmother are more interesting when they are disheveled from the heat, when they are unable to control the way they are feeling. They are simply hot and they have to let go, their hair unsettled and their knees loose. It was totally unlike them, this lapse from gentility, and it made them much more interesting. And later, Winnie, too,
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becomes more interesting. At the beginning, the children in her town think of her merely as an extension of her tailored home. In the end, some of the townspeople nd her an intriguing hero. She has come to life for them: She was a gure of romance to them now, where before she had been too neat, too prissy; almost, somehow, too clean to be a real friend.
Natural life cycle

Babbitt uses the image of a wheel in the prologue to point out how the rst week of August seems to just hang there, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The wheel becomes a symbol for life and is used again and again throughout the story. When Winnie and Angus Tuck are in the boat on the pond, he explains to Winnie that his family has fallen off the wheel of life, and that they are in an unnatural state. Angus says: Its a wheel, Winnie. Everythings a wheel, turning and turning, never stopping. The frogs is part of it, and the bugs, and the sh, and the wood thrush, too. And people. But never the same ones. Always coming in new, always growing and changing, and always moving on. Thats the way it is. Winnie begins to comprehend this herself when she sees how the water moves out of the pond and into the ocean. She realizes that the pond water is like life and that while the water moves all around them, she and Angus are stuck in the rowboat. Tuck continues, Thats what us Tucks are, Winnie. Stuck sos we cant move on. We aint part of the wheel no more. Dropped off, Winnie. Left behind. And everywhere around us, things is moving and growing and changing. And when Winnie, whose mind was
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suddenly drowned with understanding of what he was saying, blurts out that she doesnt want to die, Tuck reassures her. Not now. Your times not now. But dyings part of the wheel, right there next to being born. Tuck uses the image of the wheel to make Winnie understand the importance of the cycle of life, just as Babbitt uses the imagery of the wheel again and again to show the reader how the wheel works, how it moves things along as they should be moved.
Independence
Winnies independence is another important theme in the book. In fact, it is her search for independence that leads her to the wood and ultimately to the Tucks. Then, because of her experience with them and choices she makes, she carves out some independence for herself. At the start of the book Winnie is frustrated by her family because they watch and care for her so diligently. She wishes she had a sibling to take away some of the attention. She tells the toad that she wants to do something on her own that would make some kind of difference. She even thinks it would be nice to have a new name. When Winnie steps toward the wood, noting that she will make a nal decision about whether or not to run away permanently once she gets there, she is actually taking her rst steps toward independence. She gets braver and more independent with each step she takes. Although she has no choice in the matter when
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she is kidnapped by the Tucks, she goes with them somewhat willingly, trusting her own instincts about their goodness. There is a crucial moment, though, when it becomes apparent to the readers that Winnie has done some real growing up. When the constable charges the Tucks with kidnapping, Winnie defends them. She tells the constable that she ran away and that she has gone with them willingly. Although she knows this is a lie, she has made an independent decision about who she will defend. Later, when Winnie decides to help Mae escape, this sense of newfound independence sweeps over her as she sneaks out of the house at night, defying all of the rules that have been set for her. In fact, it is so easy that she was struck by the realization that, if she chose, she could slip out night after night without their [her parents] knowing. Even as guilt comes over her, she reminds herself that she has to help Mae and the whole Tuck family. Independence comes in the form of choices for Winnie. She chooses to walk through the gate and venture into the wood. She chooses to stay with the Tucks and get to know them. She chooses to defend Mae and eventually to help free her. And in the end, she chooses not to drink from the spring, but to live the way life was meant to be lived, with death as part of the wheel.
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Greed
An important theme in this book is greed. In Tuck Everlasting, the reader learns that the man in the yellow suit feels that money is the most important thing in the world. The reader also meets the Tuck family, who knows that there is one thing in the world that is much more important than any amount of money: protecting the secret of the magical spring. The man in the yellow suit is very greedy. He will do anything, including threatening to harm Winnie, to nd the source of the Tucks immortality. He tells the Tucks he will sell the enchanted water only to certain people, people who deserve it. And it will be very, very expensive. The man in the yellow suit is determined to let the world know about the magical spring. He does not care about the difculties people would experience if they lived forever. He only thinks about how much money he will make. In the end, it is the mans greed for wealth that leads to his death. In contrast, Angus and Mae Tuck display a great deal of selessness. While the man in the yellow suit is selsh and concerned only about increasing his wealth, the Tucks focus on the larger picture: ensuring that no one else suffers the curse of living forever. The Tucks give up a great deal in order to protect their secret. For instance, they dont form relationships with other people so that no one will notice they do not get older. Mae describes how their old friends reacted to the Tucks staying the same age: They come to pull back from us. There was talk of witchcraft. Black Magic. Well, you cant hardly blame them, but
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nally we had to leave the farm. Even though it means living a lonely, difcult life, the Tucks know that they must never reveal their secret.
Thinking about the themes

What do you think is the most important theme? How does the wheel metaphor help you understand the life cycle? What is good and what is bad about the prospect of eternal life? What is good about death? Does it make us see life differently? How long would you like to live?
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Characters: Who Are These People, Anyway?
I cast my characters out of the possibilitiesthe kinds of people who are best going to be able to talk about my idea. The Tuck family has four members, and they were chosen specifically to talk about different points of view of living forever.
Natalie Babbitt
n some books, the characters names are simply names the author likes for one reason or another, or names that are
appropriate for the setting and the time. Not so for Natalie Babbitts characters. Babbitt said, Thats one of the things I like the best! In most of my books, the characters names have secondary meanings that the reader doesnt have to know. In Tuck Everlasting, Winnies last nameFostermeans forester. The name Tuck came from a thesaurus and an old dictionary. I wanted a name that meant life and was only one syllable. When I looked it up in my old dictionary, I found that tuck meant life. The rst names in that book were chosen to go with the times theyre old-fashioned. You dont meet too many people with those
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names very often anymorealthough once I was approached by a woman who told me her name was Winifred Foster! Here is a list of the characters in Tuck Everlasting, followed by a brief description. Winifred Foster Mae Tuck Angus Tuck Miles Tuck Jesse Tuck The man in the yellow suit The constable The Fosters the lawman who arrests Mae Tuck Winnies family, which includes her father, mother, and grandmother a ten-year-old girl, called Winnie the mother of Jesse and Miles, wife of Angus the father of Jesse and Miles, Maes husband the older son of the Tucks the younger son of the Tucks a man who wants to own the magical spring
Winnie Foster: Winnie Foster, the main character in Tuck Everlasting, is a ten-year-old girl who lives a sheltered life in a small town. Her family is wealthy and reserved. She has no siblings and no friends to speak of. When we meet her in the beginning of the novel, she is lonely and bored. She wants to do something with her life, to have an adventure. She begins to consider this in a conversation with a toad that lurks across the road from her front yard. She tells him that she is tired of being watched by her family every second of the day and wants to be herself for once. She tells him she wants to make some kind of difference in the world.
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Winnie is somewhat torn, though. When she sets out into the wood that next day, she is unsure of what to do. She wont commit to running away but thinks shell see how she feels as she goes. It turns out she doesnt have to make a decision herself. Her life changes the moment she encounters Jesse Tuck in the wood. Because Winnie is curious and open to new things, she doesnt walk away when she spies Jesse sitting by the spring. Instead, she watches him intensely, and soon nds herself on an adventure that changes her life. At rst she is excited about her new experiences. They were friends, her friends. Closing the gate on her oldest fears as she had closed the gate of her own fenced yard, she discovered the wings shes always wished she had. And all at once she was elated. Later, though, she becomes overwhelmed and scared. She had never slept in any bed but her own in her life. All these thoughts owed at once from the dark part of her mind. She put down her fork and said, unsteadily, I want to go home. Winnie continues to go back and forth regarding her feelings for the Tucks and the situation she has gotten into with them. Her emotions become more complicated. She is at once scared and sympathetic, overjoyed and distressed. But mostly, Winnie is perceptive, very understanding, intelligent, and brave. We rst become aware of her perceptiveness when the man in the yellow suit comes to her house and she is reminded of funeral ribbons. She somehow knows that he brings trouble. That same intuition makes her empathetic as well. She feels
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deeply for the Tucks, and is pained when she notices sadness in them. But it is Winnies courage that changes her life. She has lived through something and learned from the experience, and she feels surer of herself for it. At the beginning, she doesnt even know whether or not to run away. In the end, she starts making independent decisions. When she sneaks out of the house and risks everything to save Mae, she not only displays her newfound independence, but also shows she has learned how to be a friend.
Mae Tuck: Mae Tuck is a wife and mother who cares deeply about her family. She tries very hard to keep her family intact. Mae is also very brave. It is she who saves her family and Winnie when she hits the man in the yellow suit over the head. She is a protector. Mae will stop at nothing to prevent others from taking on the burden of eternal life. She is kind, loving, optimistic, and resilientshe has led a long and sometimes difcult life, but still has energy to spare. All of those qualities are evident when she says to Winnie, Lifes got to be lived, no matter how long or short. You got to take what comes. Angus Tuck: Angus Tuck, called Tuck, is a kind but sad man, who almost never smiled except in his sleep. For that is when he dreams of heaven and is relieved to be able to forget for a minute that he will live forever. But the melancholy creases of his cheeks are displaced by a smile when he meets Winnie Foster. Perhaps most affected of all the Tucks by the curse of
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eternal life, Tuck hides himself away from the world so that he doesnt have to watch it grow past him. Because he cannot die, he doesnt feel alive. He responds with sheer amazement to Winnie when he meets her. Winnie is alive to him because she will mature and grow old, and eventually die. It makes him feel alive to be near her. He tells Winnie, You cant have living without dying. So you cant call it living, what we got. We just are, we just be, like rocks beside the road. Winnie responds to Tucks descriptions of immortality most of all. Her empathy comes out when she notices his creased forehead at the breakfast table and when he stares with envy at the man in the yellow suit when he is on the verge of death. Winnie knows that Tuck is in pain. Natalie Babbitt has said that Angus Tuck is the most important character in the book. He is the one whose advice Winnie follows.
Miles Tuck: Miles Tuck is solid, like an oar, according to Winnie. He is broad and muscled and has dirt under his nails from working as a blacksmith to earn money. He had a wife and children who left him when they realized he would not age and he is sad that they could never know why. Instead, they lived and died as he could not and he sees that as tragic. Serious and diligent, Miles wants to do something important with his time someday. He tries to explain the importance of the cycle of life to Winnie when she goes out in the rowboat with him. There, she learns that he is critical of his fathers decision to hide from the
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world, and of Jesses indulgent lifestyle. He thinks everyone ought to make himself or herself useful.
Jesse Tuck: Jesse Tuck is a seventeen-year-old boy wholl be seventeen forever and doesnt seem to mind one bit. He thinks that if youre destined to live forever, you might as well enjoy it. Winnie thinks he is the opposite of Miles and likens him to water: thin and quick. He is optimistic, hopeful, and freespirited. Winnie develops a crush on him. At rst, she admires him because he is handsome and charming. Later, she adores him because he seems to like her, too. He wants Winnie to drink from the spring when she is seventeen and then marry him so they can live forever, together. The man in the yellow suit: The man in the yellow suit represents the dark side of the Tucks situation. He wants to exploit them by treating them like a sideshow. He has no morals. He doesnt see the Tucks as people, but as objects put on earth to make him rich. He refuses to see the consequences of his plan. Natalie Babbitt has explained:
Every fantasy has to have a villain. The MITYS is based on somebody that I actually knew . . . a completely amoral, hugely powerful, completely selsh person. We are used to villains that know what good is and go against it. The MITYS does not concern himself with good or bad. The only thing he thinks about is what he wants, without regard to what it might mean philosophically or to peoples lives.
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Thinking about the characters

Which of the Tucks do you feel closest to? Why? Would you like to have Winnie for a friend? Why or why not? Do you feel differently about Mae Tuck after she kills the man in the yellow suit? Why or why not?
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Opinion: What Have Other People Thought About Tuck Everlasting?
Flawless
When Tuck Everlasting was rst published in 1975, the reviews were exceptional. A reviewer for The Horn Book wrote, Rarely does one nd a book with such distinctive prose. Flawless in both style and structure, it is rich in imagery and punctuated with light llips of humor. The reviewer was not only impressed with the beautiful language that Natalie Babbitt used, but also by the funny moments she included. A review in Harpers stated that Tuck Everlasting was probably the best work of our best childrens novelist. Evidently many people agree with this statement because it was named one of the most important childrens books of the twentieth century by School Library Journal. It is so popular, in fact, that it was made into a feature lm that was released in 2002. Some people who have read the book feel that despite its historical setting, children many years in the future will also enjoy Tuck Everlasting. A review from Booklist stated that with its serious intentions, and light touch the story is, like the Tucks, timeless.
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Controversy about the ending

Though most readers agree that the book is marvelous, others have had a negative response to the ending. They feel that Winnie should have taken a drink from the spring and found Jesse and lived with him forever. But, as Natalie Babbitt has explained, usually even the most critical reader comes around eventually. (See Natalie Babbitts story on page 11 about a reader who changed her mind.) In addition, some people feel that Babbitts description of the Tuck family is not entirely realistic. A reviewer from the New York Times Book Review wrote that the Tucks were nice people; their unshakable niceness is perhaps the only really unlikely part of the story. The Tucks have lived a very, very long time and experienced great loss due to their immortality. This reviewer nds it difcult to believe the Tucks could be so kind to Winnie after suffering for so long.
Thinking about what others think of Tuck Everlasting

How do you feel about the ending? Do you think Tuck Everlasting deserves all the praise? Do you think the books historical setting will help the story remain appealing for years to come? Why or why not?
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Glossary
ere are some important words used in Tuck Everlasting. Some are common words that have uncommon meanings.
Understanding them will make it easier to read the novel.
acrid bitter or unpleasant to the smell or taste bovine having qualities characteristic of a cow cahoots in partnership catholic involving or concerning all of humankind colander a cooking utensil with holes used for rinsing or draining food constable a lawman cross angry ebbed fell back or receded eddies currents of water moving in a circular motion elation a feeling of extreme joy or pride embankment a raised structure that prevents water from overowing exasperated irritated or out of patience furrowed wrinkled with deep grooves galling causing extreme irritation
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gallows a frame from which condemned people were hanged gypsies wandering people illiterate unable to read or write indomitable impossible to tame or subdue jaunty showy kingfisher a brightly colored bird marionette a wooden gure made to move from above by strings attached to its jointed limbs melancholy deep sadness or depression metaphysics the philosophical study of being and knowing parson a member of the clergy petulance the quality of being ill-tempered plaintive mournful ponderous heavy or important prostrate to reduce to extreme weakness; to be overcome roust to wake up someone or disturb rueful expressing sorrow or regret searing burning or scorching self-deprecation the act of putting oneself down staunchly in a rm way tangent a sudden change of course teeming overowing threadbare shabby verandah a porch or balcony
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Natalie Babbitt on Writing
I write for children because I am interested in fantasy and the possibilities for experience of all kinds before the time of compromise. I believe that children are far more perceptive and wise than American books give them credit for being.
Natalie Babbitt
lthough Natalie Babbitt started out as an illustrator, she has said, Now writing is far more important to me than
illustrating, for it seems clear that the things I have to say I can say much more effectively with words than I ever could with pictures, in spite of old maxims to the contrary. (As the saying goes, A picture is worth a thousand words.) Babbitt says that it was all the reading she did as a child that led her to a career in illustrations and, ultimately, writing for children. She believes that it is because she loves words that she is able to use them so effectively in her writing. Natalie once wrote an essay called, My Love Affair with the Alphabet. It is about how miraculous the alphabet is. She
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wonders how those twenty-six funny shapes can group themselves in endlessly different ways to make words with endlessly different meanings. The essay expresses her opinion that the letters of the alphabet on the pages of a book enable us to go to different places, to be someone else entirely, and to accomplish extraordinary things.
For aspiring writers

Natalie Babbitt has said that if you really want to be a writer, you should probably be a reader rst. She believes that it is by reading stories that you learn to tell them well. All of us are storytellers of one kind or another, and I wish you all lots of luck with it if you choose to do it. It was through her observation of other peoples writing experiences that she learned an important lesson she likes to share with aspiring writers: My husband took time out from his academic career to write a novel and discovered that he didnt enjoy the long, lonely hours that writing demanded. My sister produced a comic novel, which required substantial rewriting. I learned three valuable things from observing my husbands and sisters forays into the writers world: You have to give writing your full attention. You have to like the revision process. And you have to like to be alone. But it was years before I put any of this to good use.
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You Be the Author!
Write the sequel: Dont you wish you knew what became of Jesse Tuck? Write a story about what happened to Jesse after Mae was freed. How long did he wait for Winnie? Did he fall in love again? Did he get into any trouble? Where do you think he traveled? Be a reporter: The town of Treegap was certainly in a tizzy the day after Maes escape from the jail. What might the local newspaper have said of the mysterious circumstances surrounding her disappearance? You be the reporter who gets the story. Interview the townsfolk. Did anyone see anything? Has anyone heard any rumors? Perhaps someone has some gossip to include about Winnies affection for Jesse Tuck . . . The legend of Treegap Spring: Doesnt the eternal lifegiving spring remind you of an old legend? How do you think it became enchanted in the rst place? Was it elves after all? Use your imagination to come up with a magical story about the history of the spring. Keep a diary: Imagine that you suddenly nd out that you are going to stay the age you are today forever. Start a ctional diary. Start your diary on the day you become immortal. How did it happen? At an encounter with a magical being? Or perhaps
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after nding an unusual object? Were you with any of your friends or family members? What is it like to see your friends get older? Since youll never appear older, will you be in the same grade forever? Write a few sentences each day about who you reveal your secret to, what is good about living forever, and what you dont enjoy about it, and anything else that you think is interesting about your new situation.
Write as Natalie Babbitt: Part of what makes this book so special is the wonderful imagery the author uses to describe the simplest objects and situations. Write a story of your own and try using similes, metaphors, and personication the way Natalie Babbitt does. These literary tools will help your writing come alive! Write an advertisement: If the man in the yellow suit had lived, he would have had to advertise the spring water in order to sell it. Make a poster advertising the water. What would it say? How would he persuade people to pay for the water?
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Activities
You be the judge!: Imagine Mae Tuck hadnt been able to escape. What might her trial have been like? Would the jury believe her story or would they sympathize with the man in the yellow suit? Have a mock trial and nd out! You will need a judge, a jury of twelve people, a prosecutor, a defense lawyer, and witnesses for Mae Tuck. Words that paint a picture: Natalie Babbitt is an artist as well as a writer. Are you? Lets nd out! Read over some of your favorite descriptions in the book, and try to draw or paint the scene. Maybe its the winding road, or the entrance to the wood, or the spring, or the Tucks house on the pond . . . Back to the future: When the Tucks return to Treegap in the epilogue, they nd the town very different. What would your town look like if you were to return in one hundred years? What has changed? What has stayed the same? Watch the movie: Tuck Everlasting, the movie, came out in 2002 and is now available on video and DVD. Get a group of friends together and watch it. Then, have a movie group. Talk about how the movie is different from the book. Did everyone like it? Which did you like better?
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Get a library card: If you already have a card, head to the library and check out some of Natalie Babbitts other stories! If you dont have a library card, make sure to get one. You will nd endless possibilities for great reading inside the library! Make some flapjacks!: With the help of an adult, you can enjoy apjacks just like the Tucks and Winnie did!
Ingredients 3 tablespoons butter 112 cups all-purpose our 2 tablespoons brown sugar 112 teaspoons baking powder
12
teaspoon salt cups milk
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2 large eggs 1 tablespoon of maple or regular syrup

12
teaspoon vanilla
Directions 1. Melt the butter, either in a small pan on the stove or in a small bowl in the microwave. Let the melted butter cool for several minutes. 2. In a large mixing bowl, combine our, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix together with a whisk (a fork will work, too) so it is well combined. 3. In a separate small bowl, combine the melted butter, milk, eggs, syrup, and vanilla. Whisk these ingredients together.
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4. Add the liquid mixture to the our mixture. Whisk together until there are no big chunks of our. The batter will be lumpy, not smooth. Do not mix too much or else the apjacks wont be uffy. 5. Grease the griddle or pan with oil or butter. You could use cooking spray if you prefer. 6. With an adults help, heat up a griddle or large pan on high heat on the stove. 7. With a ladle or measuring cup, pour about 13 cup of batter onto the skillet. 8. When the top is covered in bubbles and a few begin to pop, turn over the pancake using a rubber or metal spatula. 9. Cook for about one minute more and lift up an edge to check to see if its done. The apjack should be golden brown. 10. Top with butter and syrup!
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Related Reading
Other books by Natalie Babbitt Bub; Or the Very Best Thing (1994) The Devils Other Storybook (1987) The Devils Storybook (1974) Dick Foote and the Shark (1967) Elsie Times Eight (2001) The Eyes of the Amaryllis (1977) Goody Hall (1971) Herbert Rowbarge (1982) Kneeknock Rise (1970) Nellie, a Cat on Her Own (1989) Ouch! (1998) Phoebes Revolt (1968) The Search for Delicious (1969) The Something (1970) Books illustrated by Natalie Babbitt All the Small Poems by Valerie Worth (1987) All the Small Poems and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth (1994) The Big Book for Peace by Alexander Lloyd (1990) Curlicues, the Fortunes of Two Pug Dogs by Valerie Worth (1980) The Forty-Ninth Magician by Samuel Babbitt (1966) More Small Poems by Valerie Worth (1976) Other Small Poems Again by Valerie Worth (1986)
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Peacock and Other Poems by Valerie Worth (2002) Small Poems by Valerie Worth (1972) Small Poems Again by Valerie Worth (1986) Still More Small Poems by Valerie Worth (1978) Movies Tuck Everlasting (2002)
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Bibliography
Books Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975. dePaola, Tomie, and others. Once Upon a Time . . . Celebrating the Magic of Childrens Books in Honor of the Twentieth Anniversary of Reading Is Fundamental. New York: G. P. Putnams Sons, 1986. Silvey, Anita. The Essential Guide to Childrens Books and Their Creators. Boston: Houghton Mifin, 2002. Newspapers and magazines Booklist, volume 72, December 1, 1975, p. 510. The Bulletin of the Center for Childrens Books. True Blue: Natalie Babbitt. June 1999. Horn Book, volume 52, February 1976, p. 47. New York Times Book Review, November 16, 1975, pp. 32, 56. School Library Journal, volume 22, December 1975, p. 50. Web sites The Bulletin of the Center for Childrens Books: http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/puboff/bccb/0699true.html Cedar Falls Public Library Youth Department: www.cedar-falls.lib.ia.us/youth/author3.html Disney: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/tuck
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Educational Paperback Association: www.edupaperback.org Kidspace @ The Internet Public Library: http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/askauthor/babbitt.html Kidsreads.com: http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/au-babbitt-natalie.asp Scholastic: http://www2.scholastic.com/teachers/authorsandbooks/ authorstudies/authorstudies.jhtml
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THE GLENCOE LITERATURE LIBRARY
Study Guide
for
Tuck Everlasting
by Natalie Babbitt
Meet Natalie Babbitt

Babbitts strong interest in drawing led her to major in art in college. While there, she met her husband. After marrying, Babbitt focused on raising her three children. By the age of thirty, she still had not launched her career as an illustrator. At that time, the 1950s, few women looked for jobs outside the home. Babbitt says, Women my age and older, having married at a different time, had to meet all the expectations of society before we did anything. In the mid-1960s, Babbitt decided she would do what she had always wanted to do. She gave her husband, a writer, the idea for a childrens book she wanted to illustrate. He wrote the words, and she drew the penand-ink illustrations. The Forty-Ninth Magician was published in 1966. With the encouragement of her husband and her editor, Babbitt began to write her own picture books. The Search for Delicious was published in 1969, and Kneeknock Rise was published in 1970. Both books combine elements of folklore, fairy tale, and myth. In The Search for Deliciouswhich features a group of dwarfs, a mermaid, and a tree dwellera 12-year-old boy must save his kingdom by discovering the correct definition of the word delicious. In Kneeknock Rise, a boy investigates a towns fear of a mythical creature that lives on top of a nearby mountain. Babbitts most popular book, however, is Tuck Everlasting, a blend of realism and fantasy, first published in 1975. Babbitts books have been praised for their wit, clear and poetic writing style, and themes that address thought-provoking questions about life and human nature. Babbitt says that she writes for children, but her award-winning books are enjoyed by readers of all ages.
[Natalie Babbitt] is an illustrator, not only with pen and brush, but also with words.
Kirsten Chapman, interview with the author, 1988
A
Copyright by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
t a young age, Natalie Babbitt knew she wanted to become an illustrator. Her mother, an artist, gave Natalie and her sister art lessons as children. Natalie spent hours practicing her drawing, often using colored pencils. At age nine, she discovered the childrens classic Alice in Wonderland and fell in love with John Tenniels penand-ink illustrations for the book. His artwork inspired her so that she decided she also would be an illustrator of childrens books. I would draw funny, beautiful pictures in pen and ink, she explains. Babbitt says, however, that at this early stage of her life I never thought about writing. Nevertheless, as a child, she loved the fairy tales her mother read aloud to her. Babbit learned to read before she entered school. These early experiences helped to lay the groundwork for her career as a writer of fantasy books for children.
Tuck Everlasting Study Guide
Introducing the Novel

For the wood was full of light . . . It was green and amber and alive, quivering in splotches on the padded ground, fanning into sturdy stripes between the tree trunks. . . . and here and there a fallen log, half rotted but soft with patches of sweet green-velvet moss.
Tuck Everlasting
This description of Treegap woods, part of the setting of Tuck Everlasting, shows Natalie Babbitts skill with words. As one expert on childrens literature has noted, No one imitates Natalie Babbitt, because no one can. Tuck Everlasting is Babbitts best-loved novel. At the beginning of the story, we meet Winnie Foster. Nearly eleven years old, Winnie has little experience with life beyond her fenced front yard and yearns to spread her wings. Her life changes dramatically when she meets the odd Tuck family and discovers a secret they have kept for many years. Through her adventure with the Tucks, Winnie makes another, far more important, discoveryWinnie discovers herself. Suspenseful, funny, and touching, Tuck Everlasting explores a serious question about life and about how it should be lived. The Tuck family in the novel shares some similarities with Babbitts real-life ancestors, who were early pioneers. In the late 1700s, some Babbitts journeyed from Connecticut to Ohio to settle. At that time, Ohio was covered with an immense forest where bears roamed and Native Americans lived and hunted. As more and more settlers arrived, the forests were cleared to create farmland. Patches of woods remained. Woods like these are the home of the Tucks at the time Winnie meets them. Like Babbitts other novels, Tuck Everlasting is a fantasy, a type of fiction that usually includes fictional characters and imaginary settings. But unlike many of her novels, Tuck takes place in the everyday world. As an earthbound fantasy, the novel is often compared to E. B. Whites Charlottes
10
Web. Both delicately balance the real and the imaginary. Babbitts skill as a storyteller makes the unbelievable seem believable. The term fantasy includes many types of fiction, from modern fairy tales to science fiction. A fantasy is a work that takes place in an unreal world or concerns unreal characters and events. A fantasy can feature knights and dragons, talking animals, or time travelers. It can be set in the long-ago past or the distant future. It includes works as different as Winnie the Pooh and Star Wars. What links these different kinds of writing together is that they all focus on the imaginary. Fantasies have their roots in folktales, legends, and myths. Folktales are traditional stories that convey the beliefs or customs of a culture. Legends, part fact and part fiction, tell about the great deeds of heroes. Myths are narratives that attempt to explain certain events, such as the creation of the world or forces of nature. These forms of literature came into being hundredseven thousandsof years ago. The stories were passed along by word-of-mouth for generations before being written down. Many fantasy writers, such as Natalie Babbitt, Jane Yolen, and Brian Jacques, are fascinated by these early tales and borrow from them in their own stories. For that reason, when you read a fantasy, the plot, characters, or theme may seem familiar. As Yolen points out:
Stories lean on stories, art on art. This familiarity with the treasure-house of ancient story is necessary for any true appreciation of todays literature.
The main source of all fantasy stories, however, is the human heart and mind. Like the ancient, unnamed storytellers, fantasy writers today address our darkest fears and greatest hopes. They also stretch our imaginations by helping us dream and look at the world in new and unusual ways. Speaking of
the importance of the imagination, fantasy writer Paul Fenimore Cooper notes:
He who lacks imagination lives but half a life. He has his experiences, he has his facts, he has his learning. But do any of these really live unless touched by the magic of the imagination?
While many fantasies are designed to provide an entertaining escape from the everyday world, the richest fantasies offer insights about the real world. For example, Charlottes Web, which features a talking spider and pig as well as a real-life little girl, helps us understand true friendship. Tuck Everlasting, which also has a young girl as the main character, offers insights on an even larger question. The best fantasies, while inviting us to consider the impossible, at the same time have the ring of truth. THE TIME AND PLACE Babbitt gives clues that allow the reader to figure out that the events of the novel take place in the 1880s. By providing details about Winnies high-button shoes and peoples use of wagons and horses rather than cars, Babbit shows the time in which the events occur. The story takes place in the imaginary village of Treegap. Treegap is based on
Clinton, New York, a small town in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, where Babbitt and her husband lived. The Adirondack Mountains cover about 12,000 square miles in northeastern New York. In the mid-1800s, people began visiting the Adirondacks to enjoy the scenery, wildlife, and recreational activities. Babbitt may have been inspired by Norse mythology when she created the woods of Treegap. Though the Foster family owns the woods, Winnie has never entered them. In Chapter 1 we learn that the woods have a huge ash tree at their center. In Norse mythpart of the traditional culture of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark a giant ash tree stands at the center of the world and supports the universe. At its base are three holy wells. The tree, like the Norse gods, is immortal, but an evil monster gnaws at its roots. While there are no monsters in Tuck Everlasting, the ash tree in the woods of Treegap, like the ash tree in the myth, has water at its base. A small spring bubbles up from underground. In the novel, the spring plays a critical part in the novels plot and presents an important question for readers.
Did You Know?

The idea of living forever has fascinated humankind for centuries. In the 1300s, medieval chemists tried to discover a liquid that could extend life forever. They called this magical drink the elixir of life. In China, followers of a religion called Taoism searched for a similar substance called the pill of immortality. Some Taoists also thought that people could approach immortality by following certain daily practices. They believed that meditation, breathing exercises, and diet could reverse the normal aging process by changing the bodys internal chemistr y.
11
Before You Read

Tuck Everlasting Prologue and Chapters 18
FOCUS ACTIVITY
If you had the chance to stay young forever, would you take it? Why or why not? Think-Pair-Share With a partner, list possible advantages and disadvantages of never growing any older. Setting a Purpose Read to find out how a mysterious family stays young.
BACKGROUND
The Passage of Time The time of year is an important feature of the setting in Tuck Everlasting. The prologue, or introduction, to the novel states that the month is August, and the first paragraph opens with a striking summer image. The author describes a Ferris wheel pausing in its turning, with the top seat hanging in the stillness. This image helps to set the mood, or atmosphere, of the particular August when the novel takes place. Notice that the author describes the first week of August as motionless, and hot and August as the top of the year. Her description suggests that the year is at a turning point. The opening image also hints that the main character may be at a turning point in her life.
VOCABULARY PREVIEW
axis [ak sis] n. straight line around which something rotates contemplation [kontm pla shn] n. process of thinking something through disheartened [dis hart nd ] adj. discouraged implore [im plor ] v. to beg primly [prim l e ] adv. stiffly; daintily recede [ri se d ] v. to move backward; to withdraw rueful [roo fl ] adj. sad venture [ven chr] n. bold or risky act
12
Name
Date
Class
Active Reading
Tuck Everlasting Prologue and Chapters 18
The Tucks have mixed feelings about living forever. Use the chart to note their attitudes about what has happened in their lives since they drank from the spring. In the second column, summarize in a few words their feelings about living forever. Feeling About Living Forever
Character
Comments
Angus
Wishes things would change
Bored and sad
Mae
Miles
Jesse
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Name
Date
Class
Responding
Tuck Everlasting Prologue and Chapters 18 Personal Response
What do you think will happen next in the story? Why?
Analyzing Literature
Recall and Interpret 1. Briefly describe the Fosters house and yard. How do they reflect the Fosters personality?
2. What does Mr. Tuck dream? What does the dream suggest about Mr. Tucks attitude toward his life?
3. What thoughts does Winnie express to the toad? How does she feel about her life? How does the weather reflect her feelings?
4. What draws Winnie to the woods? What is Jesse Tuck doing when Winnie first sees him? What does she think of Jesse?
5. What secret do the Tucks share with Winnie? Why do they kidnap her? How does Winnie feel about the Tucks?
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Name
Date
Class
Responding
Tuck Everlasting Prologue and Chapters 18 Analyzing Literature (continued)
Evaluate and Connect 6. Who overhears the Tucks secret? How do the actions of this character create suspense, or tension, in the plot?
7. Review your answer to the question in the Focus Activity. After reading about the Tucks, would you change your answer? Why? How might the Tucks answer the question?
Literature and Writing

The Story in a Nutshell In one written paragraph, sum up the part of the story you have read so far. Identify the main character in the novel and give some background about her. Where does she live? What seems to be troubling her? What action does she take that sets the story in motion?
Extending Your Response

Literature Groups Mae Tuck says that the spring is a big, dangerous secret. Do you agree? In your discussion, consider these related questions: What might happen if the secret was revealed to the public? How would peoples lives be changed for better or worse? How would society be affected? How might the planet be affected? After your discussion, take a vote to find out how many students think the spring should be kept secret. Learning for Life News reporters often have to separate fact from fiction. Imagine you are a reporter. You have heard a rumor about a mysterious family that never seems to age. Your editor wants you to find out if the rumor is true. What questions would you ask to try to get to the bottom of this story? Write at least two questions you would ask each major character in the story.
Save your work for your portfolio.

Tuck Everlasting Study Guide 15
Before You Read

Tuck Everlasting Chapters 920
FOCUS ACTIVITY
What changes in life do you look forward to as you think about growing older? Discuss What do you think your life will be like when you are a young adult? When you are older still? What joys and pains might come with each stage of life? Setting a Purpose Read to find out what Angus Tuck has to say to Winnie about living and growing.
BACKGROUND
Did You Know? The plot of a story is more than just a series of events, one after another. In any plot, one event leads to another, following a pattern of cause and effect. Compare these two examples offered by E. M. Forster, the author of Aspects of the Novel, a book about how novels work: (1) The king died and then the queen died. (2) The king died, and then the queen died of grief. Only the second example, Forster notes, is a plot. In Tuck Everlasting, you can find similar examples of cause and effect in the plot. In the first section, Winnie hears strange music coming from the woods. This event leads her to enter the woods because she is curious about the source of the music. Thinking about cause and effect can help you understand characters motives, or reasons for doing what they do. As you read Chapters 920, notice how one event leads to another, and think about why each character behaves as he or she does. Branches of Knowledge In Chapter 19, the man in the yellow suit says that he studied philosophy and metaphysics to try to find out if people can really live forever. Philosophy is a branch of knowledge, like science or history. The term comes from Greek words that mean love of wisdom. Philosophers apply the powers of the mind to explore basic questions about human experience such as What is truth? How do we define goodness or beauty? What moral responsibilities do people have? What is the extent of the universe? How do we know what we know? Metaphysics is one branch of philosophy. Metaphysicians try to sort out appearance from reality. The question that Babbitt poses for readers in her novel is a philosophical one. How would you phrase her question?
VOCABULARY PREVIEW
anguish [an fragrant [fra wish] n. extreme pain or sorrow rnt] adj. sweet-smelling
helter-skelter [hel tr skel tr] adj. without order; messy immense [i mens ] adj. very large melancholy [mel n kole ] adj. depressed pickle [pik l] n. difficult situation rave [ra v] v. to talk wildly teeming [te m in ] adj. filled to overflowing
16 Tuck Everlasting Study Guide
Name
Date
Class
Active Reading
Tuck Everlasting Chapters 920
Winnie has mixed feelings about her experiences with the Tucks. Each of these feelings is an effect caused by a particular event. Use the chart to record her responses to the events that happen while she is with the Tucks. Event 1. The Tucks take Winnie home to meet Angus. Winnies Response
feels happy to be welcomed
2. Winnie eats supper with the Tucks.
3. On the pond, Angus talks to Winnie about the wheel of life.
4. Tuck and Mae talk to Winnie as she falls asleep.

Jesse suggests that Winnie drink the springwater when she is seventeen.
5.
6. Miles takes Winnie fishing on the pond.
7. Mae hits the stranger and the constable arrests her.
17
Name
Date
Class
Responding
Tuck Everlasting Chapters 920 Personal Response
When Winnie goes fishing with Miles, she kills a mosquito but asks Miles to let the trout go free. Why would she do that? Would you have done the same? Explain.
Recall and Interpret 1. Compare and contrast the Tucks house and way of life with the Fosters. Which does Winnie seem to prefer? Why?
2. When Mr. Tuck takes Winnie rowing, what does he talk about? How does he feel about living forever? How does Winnie respond to what he says?
3. Why does the man in the yellow suit go to the Fosters house? What do the constables remarks about the gallows seem to foreshadow, or predict, for the Tucks?
4. At the Tucks house, what plan does the man in the yellow suit announce? Why, do you think, does Mae Tuck hit him? How does this scene mark a turning point for Winnie?
18
Name
Date
Class
Responding
Tuck Everlasting Chapters 920 Analyzing Literature (continued)
Evaluate and Connect 5. How does Winnies talk with Miles when they go fishing relate to her earlier talk with Angus?
6. What suggestion does Jesse make to Winnie? Does her interest in Jesse surprise you? Explain.

Images An image is something that you can perceive with one or more of the senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch. Natalie Babbitt uses many images to enrich her writing. Often these images compare two things. For example, she describes Mae Tuck as a great potato of a woman. Other images are vivid and colorful descriptions of things or events. Discuss Babbitts use of images in this section. In writing, describe two images that you find interesting, and explain why they appeal to you and what makes them effective.

Literature Groups Take turns reading aloud Chapter 12, in which Angus Tuck talks to Winnie about why living forever is a bad thing. Then, discuss the points Angus makes about living and dying. Did you find his points convincing? (Think back to the comments you made in the Focus Activity.) Could you identify with Winnie when she found it hard to accept the fact that she, too, will die? Do you think the wheel is a good symbol for life? Together, create a collage, poem, song, or dance to express your thoughts and feelings about the wheel of life. Learning for Life Winnie has trouble falling asleep at the Tucks because her mind is spinning. But gradually the gentle evening sounds replace her busy thoughts, and she begins to relax. Mental health experts have found that thinking about a peaceful and quiet setting can help people relax when they feel tense or preoccupied. Visualize a place that you find especially peaceful. On a separate sheet of paper, describe the different parts of the scenesights, sounds, smells, sensationsand explain their soothing effect.
19
Before You Read

Tuck Everlasting Chapters 2126 and Epilogue
FOCUS ACTIVITY
What does it mean to grow up? Are there parts of growing up that are both satisfying and lonely? Share Ideas In small groups, discuss how young people act differently from their elders. Setting a Purpose Read to find out how Winnie changes as a result of her experiences with the Tucks.
BACKGROUND
Did You Know? Tuck Everlasting ends with an epilogue, which follows the final chapter. An epilogue is a concluding statement or section added to a novel or play. Epilogues used to be very common in plays about 300 years ago. The epilogue was often a rhyming speech addressed to the audience by one of the actors. Today epilogues are not very common in either plays or novels. Usually the epilogue sums up the main action of the story. It may also provide information about what happened later to one of the characters, as it does in Tuck Everlasting. A Real Fountain of Youth? In 1503 the explorer Juan Ponce de Len was searching for new lands for Spain. Legend has it that rumors about a miraculous spring led him to Florida. Native Americans told him of a magical water source on an island called Bimini that could make old people young again. In 1513 Ponce de Len went looking for this island. He landed on the coast of Florida near the site of modern St. Augustine. There he continued to search for, but never found, the fabled fountain of youth.
VOCABULARY PREVIEW
accomplice [a kom plis] n. assistant to a crime arc [ark] n. curved path ebb [eb] v. to decrease in force or level impulse [im puls] n. sudden act indefinitely [in def nit le ] adv. for an unlimited time ponderous [pon dr s] adj. of great weight pry [pr ] v. to pull by using a lever profoundly [pr found le ] adv. deeply soothing [soo thin ] adj. comforting
20
Name
Date
Class
Active Reading
Tuck Everlasting Chapters 2126 and Epilogue
In Chapters 2224, the author uses descriptions of the weather to emphasize the dramatic events that occur as well as the dramatic inner changes in the main character. Use the chart to note how the weather changes along with the action. Weather hottest day of August so far Chapter 22 Action Jesse tells Winnie about the plan to free Mae from jail; he gives her a bottle of the springwater and reminds her to join him in the future.
Chapter 24
Chapter 23
21
Name
Date
Class
Responding
Tuck Everlasting Chapters 2126 and Epilogue Personal Response
Winnies actions do make a difference in the world of the novel. Do you think the actions of one person can make a difference in the real world? Explain.
Recall and Interpret 1. What plan does Miles have to free Mae from jail? How will Winnie help? What will happen if Mae is sent to the gallows?
2. Why does Winnie feel guilty about helping with the jail break? Why does she decide to help anyway?
3. What does Winnie do with the bottle of springwater Jesse gave her? What does this action suggest about what she believes? What does it hint about her future?
22
Name
Date
Class
Responding
Tuck Everlasting Chapters 2126 and Epilogue Analyzing Literature (continued)
Evaluate and Connect 4. In the epilogue, what parts of the description suggest the passage of time? What has happened to the woods and spring? Why does Tuck say Good girl when he sees Winnies gravestone?
5. Tuck moves a toad out of harms way as he and Mae leave Treegap. What do you make of this incident?

Dear Tucks The Tucks never find out what happens to Winnie after they free Mae from jail. Take the role of Winnie, and write a letter to the Tucks about her thoughts and experiences. Would she explain how getting to know the Tucks changed her? Would she talk about what happened to her later in life? Would she have a special message for Jesse or another family member? Be sure to refer to her experiences in the novel, and use your ideas from the Focus Activity.

Literature Groups Using a computer at school, create a school chat room for discussing the novel. Create a file and give it a name like TuckTalk. Include a tag to identify your group. Use the file to post questions about anything that puzzles you as you read the last section of the novel. Each person reading the novel should type in at least three questions. Each time you add a question, read the questions that others have asked. Find one or two that interest you and write a response. Before you launch your chat room, come up with a plan for organizing the questions and answers so they are easy to follow. Be sure to group all the answers to the same question together. Art Connection Assemble or draw a collection of objects for a museum of Tuck Everlasting. Choose objects that will remind people of the characters, symbols, plot, and themes of the novel. Display your drawings on a single piece of posterboard. Arrange three-dimensional objects together on a table. Include a clearly printed label to identify each object and explain its importance in the novel.
23
Name
Date
Class
Responding
Tuck Everlasting Personal Response
What did you discover or realize about yourself while reading the novel? Would you do what Winnie did? Why or why not?
Writing About the Novel

What do you think Babbitts purpose was in writing Tuck Everlasting? What effect do you think she wanted to have on her readers? Could she have used another form of writing to achieve this effect? Write your responses on a separate sheet of paper.
24
Name
Date
Class
Ecclesiastes 3:18
Before You Read
Focus Question Recall a time when you felt restless, in a hurry to be older, or unhappy with an aspect of life. Why might it be important to appreciate each moment and each stage of your life? Background This selection is from the King James version of the Bible. These verses give readers an understanding of Judeo-Christian beliefs about the delicate balance of human life on earth.
Responding to the Reading

1. According to verse 1, for what are there proper seasons, or times?
2. What are two pairs of times mentioned in verses 28? How are the times in each pair related?
3. In your own words, what is the main message of this reading? What problems do you imagine might occur if people ignore this message?
4. Making Connections In Tuck Everlasting, the Tuck family goes to great lengths to keep people from finding the spring that gives eternal life on earth. In what way are their concerns about the spring supported or explained by these Bible verses?
Learning for Life This reading explores the idea that there is a time in life for good things and a time in life for bad things. Write a journal entry about how this idea might help you or others to get through difficult times. How might this idea give people both strength and hope? Include at least one example from your life or the life of someone you know.
25
Name
Date
Class
Fable Merrill Moore The Weaver of Tomorrow

Jane Yolen Before You Read
Focus Question What would be some advantages of knowing the future? Some disadvantages? Background Merrill Moore (19031957) was a psychiatrist who wrote hundreds of fourteen-line rhymed poems known as sonnets. His humorous sonnet Fable is about one persons questions and concerns regarding death. Jane Yolen is a writer known for her ability to write new stories in the style of great fables, folktales, and fairy tales. In this original piece, a young woman learns more than she ever expected to know about life and death.

1. In Fable, how does the speaker feel about the idea of dying? How do you know the speakers feelings? 2. Why might the speakers request to avoid death have more harm in it than good? What must the speaker learn to accept and why? 3. In The Weaver of Tomorrow, why must Vera be apprenticed to the weaver? 4. What does Vera learn from the weaver? How does she feel when she first gains this knowledge? 5. How does Vera feel when she takes the weavers place? What has she finally learned? 6. Making Connections In Tuck Everlasting, Winnie tells Tuck, I dont want to die. Tuck responds, But dyings part of the wheel, right there next to being born. How is Winnie like the speaker in Fable and Vera in The Weaver of Tomorrow? How is Tuck like the person who responds to the speaker in Fable? How is he like the old woman in The Weaver of Tomorrow?
Creative Writing Work with a partner to create your own story or poem about death and the cycle of life. Your writing can be set in modern times or in the past. It should include at least one character human, animal, or magicallearning about the end to life and finding a way to deal with this knowledge. Try to think of an imaginative way to describe the cycle of life.
26 Tuck Everlasting Study Guide
Name
Date
Class
The Water of Life

Before You Read
The Brothers Grimm
Focus Question Why are loyalty and honesty important in the world? Give examples of loyalty and honesty that you have witnessed. Background Grimms Fairy Tales is a classic collection of folklore that includes more than 200 stories. Most of these stories were taken from oral sourcestales that were passed by word-of-mouth from person to person for generations. The collection was put together by German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. It was first published in two volumes with the title Kinder- und Hausmrchen (Childrens and Household Tales) between 1812 and 1815. It was then revised and expanded several times between 1819 and 1857. The stories in this collection have universal appeal because they share basic truths about human nature and human desires. The selection you are about to read deals with magical water, loyalty, honesty and dishonesty, and problems caused by boastfulness and arrogance.

1. Why is the youngest brother the only one who is able to find the water of life?
2. How does the youngest brother show his loyalty to his brothers? What do the older brothers do that shows their selfishness and dishonesty?
3. When does the King realize the true nature of his youngest son? In what ways is the youngest son rewarded for his honesty and kind nature?
4. Making Connections What characters in Tuck Everlasting and The Water of Life would you identify as greedy and selfish? Support your answer with one fact about each character.
Art Connection Create a mural that combines some of the important themes, characters, and events of Tuck Everlasting and The Water of Life in a creative way. Use color and striking images to show the adventures and learning experiences of characters in both tales.
27
Name
Date
Class
The Circle Game

Before You Read
Joni Mitchell
Focus Question What is appealing to you about being older than you are now? What kinds of things are you in a hurry to do? Background Canadian Joni Mitchell is a singer and songwriter. Since the 1960s, her songs have been recorded by dozens of artists. The song The Circle Game was written in 1966. The lyrics to this song describe the circle of life that we all experience.

1. What stages of life does this song include?
2. What kinds of circles does Mitchell talk about for each of the life stages?
3. What is the meaning of the lines And they tell him, Take your time it wont be long now / Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down?
4. In your opinion, is the use of the carousel to represent the circle of life an effective symbol? Why or why not?
5. Making Connections Which of the characters from Tuck Everlasting could best relate to this song? Why? Why might other characters find it hard to relate to this song?
Writing Lyrics In The Circle Game, the young man in the last verse is twenty years old. Add additional verses about what the man discovers as he ages. You may wish to write about the experiences he has had by the ages of thirty, sixty, and eighty or any other ages you choose. Be sure to repeat the chorus throughout the verses you create.
28
Name
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Class
from Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus

Washington Irving Before You Read
Focus Question What are some of the most exciting real-life adventure stories you have heard or read about? Why do you find them interesting? Background Juan Ponce de Len was a Spanish explorer who traveled from Spain to the West at the time of Columbus. He is known as the conqueror of the Island of Boriquen (now Puerto Rico) in 1508 and the discoverer of Florida in 1513. In these two selections, Washington Irvinga nineteenth-century American writertells of Ponce de Lens legendary quest for a fountain of youth. The explorer believes that finding this fountain will give him eternal youth and make him the greatest explorer who ever lived.

1. Why do stories of the fountain of youth appeal to Ponce de Len? According to Irving, why would an explorer like Ponce de Len believe such a fantastic story?
2. According to Irving, why was the explorers journey both successful and unsuccessful?
3. Making Connections Compare and contrast Ponce de Len with the stranger who wants to sell the magic water in Tuck Everlasting. Are their reasons for seeking magic water similar? Is one person more sincere than the other? Explain.
Writing a News Report Imagine that a fountain of youth is found in some remote area of the United States. Write a short news report that describes what the fountain looks like, how it was found, and how the public reacts to the fountain. Think about the following questions when writing your report: Why was the fountain found? Who has access to it? Will people and businesses treat the fountain with care and respect or with greed and irresponsibility? How will the fountain begin to affect society?
Tuck Everlasting Study Guide 29

Tuck Everlasting

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Scholastic BookFiles

About Natalie Babbitt

Theres always one best word, if you listen for it.

How Tuck Everlasting Came About

An Interview with Natalie Babbitt

About Tuck Everlasting

About being a writer

Chapter Charter: Questions to Guide Your Reading

Plot: Whats Happening?

Lifes got to be lived, no matter how long or short. . . .

Thinking about the plot

Setting/Place and Time: Where in the World Are We?

Thinking about the setting

Themes/Layers of Meaning: Is That What It Really Means?

Everythings a wheel, turning and turning, never stopping.

Order versus disorder

Natural life cycle

Thinking about the themes

Characters: Who Are These People, Anyway?

Thinking about the characters

Opinion: What Have Other People Thought About Tuck Everlasting?

Controversy about the ending

Thinking about what others think of Tuck Everlasting

Understanding them will make it easier to read the novel.

Natalie Babbitt on Writing

For aspiring writers

You Be the Author!

teaspoon salt cups milk

2 large eggs 1 tablespoon of maple or regular syrup

THE GLENCOE LITERATURE LIBRARY

Meet Natalie Babbitt

Tuck Everlasting Study Guide

Introducing the Novel

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Copyright by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Did You Know?

Tuck Everlasting Study Guide

Before You Read

Tuck Everlasting Study Guide

Wishes things would change

Bored and sad

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Tuck Everlasting Study Guide

Tuck Everlasting Study Guide

Literature and Writing

Extending Your Response

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Before You Read

Copyright by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

feels happy to be welcomed

2. Winnie eats supper with the Tucks.

3. On the pond, Angus talks to Winnie about the wheel of life.

4. Tuck and Mae talk to Winnie as she falls asleep.

6. Miles takes Winnie fishing on the pond.

7. Mae hits the stranger and the constable arrests her.

Tuck Everlasting Study Guide

Copyright by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Tuck Everlasting Study Guide

Literature and Writing

Extending Your Response

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Tuck Everlasting Study Guide

Before You Read