Tuck Everlasting

By: Natalie Babbitt

Narrated by: Peter Thomas

When 10-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles upon the Tuck family's disturbing secret, she is forced to come to terms with her conflicting emotions. She feels drawn to the loving, gentle, and rather eccentric Tucks, but what they tell her is too incredible to be believed. Doomed to, or blessed with, eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family tries to make Winnie understand that the terrible magic of the forest spring can never be revealed. The consequences to the world could prove to be disastrous!

But then an unexpected complication arises when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to sell the spring water and make a fortune.

©1985 Natalie Babbitt (P)2007 Random House, Inc. Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group

Critic reviews

"Rarely does one find a book with such prose. Flawless in both style and structure, it is rich in imagery and punctuated with light fillips of humor. The author manipulates her plot deftly." ( The Horn Book)

So good, lil questionable! Quick read!! *spoilers*

I loved this book as a child and the movie as well. I was such a romantic then and a huge romantic now!! This book does take you on a pretty philosophical thought journey, at least it did for me as a kid. But while I loved the plot of the story, the reading, the characters and the amazing writing itself, I'm ngl I was almost so disappointed with an ending I wasn't nearly as upset about as a kid. The thought of poor Jessie waiting all those years just to find out she remarried and decided against living forever is heartbreaking. Then I remembered how freaking weird that aspect of the story really was!! It makes me uncomfortable that for most of the book there is a 17 year old (104 year old) guy who is looking at Winnie, a 10 year old, as a potential wife. Something about the entire relationship there just felt like grooming. To ask a woman around his age to consider living forever with him while being truthful about the risks would have forced Jessie to view it more seriously. If he was as beautiful and cute as Winnie describes him, he likely wouldn't have had trouble finding a potential wife his own age. But the fact that he chooses Winnie, flirts with her and everything just weirds me out. Him telling her to wait until she is 17 is a little redeeming but it's still grooming behavior to me. It's certainly a concept that might have been okay or even romantic to readers when this was written. It was romantic to me as a child because I always thought Winnie was 13 or 14, much closer in age to Jessie, due to the movie, not TEN. The fact that they make her a bit older in the movie just kind of adds to my point and the fact that the author clearly viewed this romantically making it easy for readers (like me!! I felt so icky remembering that she isn't old enough to consider things like that!!! Regardless of the time period, it was always wrong even if it was socially acceptable!!) to feel sympathetic toward Jessie about this is really strange and icky to me.

Nevertheless, this was a very well written story and if you can get past the initial discomfort of having a teenager try to groom a literal child into living forever and being his wife, it's a worthy read and definitely a story people can learn from. Also, that poor toad lmao

Tuck Everinspireing

This story just touched me heart I highly suggest it it’s A beautiful story and a tale that I hope lasts as long as the tucks

Main character should have been older.

I thought this was a good story but would have been better Iif the main character was older. I found it problematic that a 17/ 109 year old boy was in love with a 10 year old.

Would you want to live forever?

I love to the book tuck everlasting because a lot of kids want to live forever, but it's really not the best idea. I think the book shows them that In a fun fairy tale way. -Sarah, age 9.

great and sad

great story loved it very adventurous 😃 but sad in the ending😭 wish it was a happy ending😥😅

Good

It’s good good
It's time to go get your revenge
So we back in the mine, got our pick axe swinging side to side, day and night
This task a grueling one, hope to find some diamonds tonight, oh how they shine
Then it's heads up, hear a sound you freeze up, turn around and look up, total shock fills your body,
Is this the end?
Can't believe it's you again
I could never forget those eyes
'Cause baby tonight, the creeper's trying to steal your stuff again, again, again
'Cause baby tonight, you grab your pick, shovel and bolt again, again, again
And run, run, run until it's done, done, then you run, run, run until the sun
Sun comes up in the morn'
'Cause baby tonight, the creeper's trying to steal your stuff again, again, again

Perfect summer time read.

Both of my kids LOVED this book! They were 6&9 when we started it and turned 7&10 just a couple of days before we finished the story. This was a great read for the both of them!

Such a classic!

His is such a classic book. I remember reading this as a child and now my son is reading it!

A Magical, Immortal Story

This beautiful, haunting classic is wonderfully read by Peter Thomas. It took a couple minutes for me to adjust to his reading style, but once I did, I enjoyed his reading immensely. One of my favorite books and sure to be a repeat-listen. Pure magic.

Fairytale for the dreamers

I loved this book so much. It’s great for those who enjoy fairytales and hearing how others think and dream. Highly recommend.