Module 2: Chapter Book #1

A.   Author	Natalie Babbitt
B.    Title	Tuck Everlasting
C.    Illustrator	N/A
D.   Readability Score	Lexile 720L,  DRA 50,  Grade Equivalent: 5.9
E.    Genre	Fantasy
F.    Subgenre	Young Adult
G.   Theme	Courage and Honor
H.   Primary and Secondary Characters	Primary: Winnie Foster Secondary: Angus Bain, Jesse Tuck, Mae Tuck, Miles Tuck
I.      Awards/Date of Publication	Awards: American Library Association’s Notable Book Award, Christopher Award for Books for Young People (1976), Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (1978), Phoenix Honor (1995) Published: January 1, 1975
J.     Publishing Company	Farrar,  Straus, and Giroux
K.   ISBN Number	0-374-48009-5
L.    Summary	Tuck Everlasting is the story of a girl named Winnie Foster.  She is from the small town of Treegap.  The story begins with Winnie debating whether to run away or not.  She is bored and discusses her thoughts with a toad in her yard.  A man in a yellow suit shows up that very day as well. He asks many questions about a specific family he is looking for before he is asked to leave by Winnie’s grandmother. The next day Winnie decides to go for a walk to try to decide if she will run away or not.  She ventures off too far into the family’s property of woods, and encounters Jesse Tuck.  He is drinking, unbeknownst to her, from a magical spring.  Mae and Miles Tuck arrive and the family kidnaps Winnie to keep their family secret safe.  Winnie is so confused, but the family only kidnapped her to stop her from drinking the water.  The family reveals to Winnie their history. Eighty-seven years ago the Tuck family had drank from the magical spring.  The spring had made the family become immortal.  The family had not aged since that very day, and wants to protect anyone else from ending up like they are.   Winnie stays with the family as each member tries to explain the downfalls of the magical water.  Meanwhile, the man in the yellow hat has returned to the Foster home.  He tells them he knows where Winnie is and will complete an exchange for her return.  In all reality the man is out to expose the Tuck family and will use Winnie as bait.  When he comes to the Tuck home Mae hits the man over the head knocking him unconscious.  She is put into jail.  Winnie comes to the rescue by sneaking in and changing places with Mae.  By doing this she is preventing Mae’s secret from being revealed.  If she was to stay in jail she would be seen living forever and the secret would be out.  Before the rescue Jesse gives a small vial of water to Winnie telling her to think about living forever with him.  In the end she decides to live her life like it should be and not drink the vial.  She does however pour the water over her little friend she had talked to by the fence so he could live forever.  The Tuck family continued to live their immortal life,  and although they live unlike anyone else, they remember compassion and feeling given by their dear friend Winnie.
M.  Picture of Book Cover
N.   Usage with students	An anticipatory guide would be a perfect beginning prediction activity to go along with Tuck Everlasting.  A writing prompt could be used for the students to explore the idea of living forever in a story of their own.  There are so many different avenues the story could be used with.  Letter writing between Winnie and Jesse either convincing or discouraging the drinking from the spring.  The book would encourage lots of discussion using literature circles.