Doomed to—or blessed with—eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family wanders about trying to live as inconspicuously and comfortably as they can. When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles on their secret, the Tucks take her home and explain why living forever at one age is less a blessing that it might seem. Complications arise when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune.

Amazon.com Review
Imagine coming upon a fountain of youth in a forest. To live forever--isn't that everyone's ideal? For the Tuck family, eternal life is a reality, but their reaction to their fate is surprising. Award winner Natalie Babbitt (Knee-Knock Rise, The Search for Delicious) outdoes herself in this sensitive, moving adventure in which 10-year-old Winnie Foster is kidnapped, finds herself helping a murderer out of jail, and is eventually offered the ultimate gift--but doesn't know whether to accept it. Babbitt asks profound questions about the meaning of life and death, and leaves the reader with a greater appreciation for the perfect cycle of nature. Intense and powerful, exciting and poignant, Tuck Everlasting will last forever--in the reader's imagination. An ALA Notable Book. (Ages 9 to 12) --Emilie Coulter

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 1209 reviews)

Too young for me...

I probably would have liked this book a lot more if:
A - I was 10 years younger
B - I hadn't seen the movie.

I find this review hard to write because I don't want to cast a shadow on a perfectly good book. I imagine young children would love it and find it magical, but more me (I'm 21) I just found it a bit tedious. Especially since I knew the story. All that was really left was the writing style (lots of lots of descriptions, right down to the ripples in the water) which I found annoying.

But I do recommend this book to anyone under the age of 12. Because it really explores the themes of life/death and living forever in a realistic manner.

November 17, 2008

Compelling; But I'm Missing Something

This well-known (and surpisingly lacking of contemporary awards) young adult book is about a little girl and a fountain of eternal life (as we know life, that is). Key players here also include a family of ageless centurions under the fountain's power, a mysterious stranger who would exploit that power, and a cast of hapless citizens in the background who don't realize that they live among the most potent force in their little reality.
I read this aloud to my kids. They were pulled into the story and quite curious about where this would all lead, but I had the distinct sense that there was an attempted charm in this book that the author never fully achieved. The Tucks (the ageless family) are presented as all-powerful-innocents; immortals who (almost all of them) deeply regret their immortality, and whose regret is soothed by an unexplained love for the little girl who they (almost all of them) want desperately to protect from their own endless fate. I got the intent, but the presentation of this situation didn't "move" me like I hoped it would.
All in all, it's a good book but it wouldn't make my top 100 list, although the reviews of my peers are overwhelmingly more worshipful. I did enjoy pondering and discussing the many questions that the book raises, and of course the matters of life and death drip from every page; indeed, by the end of the book, every living thing that we're introduced to is either dead (by one means or another) or plodding through its own eternal changelessness. As a father, it was interesting to see my kids split in their own reactions to the question: would you rather age, change, and die as all things are meant to do, or would you rather live on forever, unchanged and unchangeable? Well?
October 23, 2008

Reveiw-good book

A magic spring can cause a lot of trouble. When 10-year-old Winnie Foster finds out that the Tucks have everlasting life they have to take her home and convince her that living forever might not be as good as it sounds. When trouble arises, it's Winnie's choice to save the Tuck's, and the spring, from people who care only about themselves. Who would have guessed that a 10-year-old girl would have the choice to change the world...forever?
October 14, 2008

I want to give this negative stars!

MrLeonard, a reviewer wrote an excellent review of this book. This is a very disturbing book with themes that are utterly unsuitable for children.
October 08, 2008

BOR-ING

During the summer since I had to read 2 books for homework, and I thought I'd try it. But even after 8 chapters I still didn't get it! I felt like going to sleep! I'd rather do a million math problem than read THAT!
September 02, 2008

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