by Natalie Babbitt
ages: 10+
First sentence: “The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning.
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Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Winnie. She lived in a nondescript house next to a nondescript woods in a nondescript town. Then, one August day, she wanders into the woods and discovers a boy drinking from a spring. she wants to take a drink, too, which leads the boy to totally flip out. And then he, and his brother and mom, take her home with them.
To explain that the spring is really not good: it makes you live forever.
Let me stop there for a minute. I remember reading this, not as a child, but 10 or so years ago, when we got the 25th edition of the book. Hubby loved it, I read it and remember really enjoying it as well. Granted, M was only 4 at the time, and C was a baby.
This time, all I could think of was: what the heck! They KIDNAP her, she grows to LIKE THEM (Stockholm Syndrome, anyone?) and helps them escape. In what universe is this not a horror story???
I see the value of this book: there are a ton of ideas to talk about; C read it for her 6th grade language arts class last year, and I think it’d be a good book to teach. But as a story? I felt the writing was pedestrian, the characters unsympathetic, and the whole thing quite creepy.
But a classic?
I’m going to get creamed for this, but I don’t think it is. (Or maybe it is, if only for the themes.)
The Book Nut 
That's so funny; I had the exact opposite rereading experience. I really enjoyed it when I was a kid, and when I recently reread it I ended up loving it even more. The kidnapping stuff didn't bother me at all (which might make me a bad person), and I thought the writing was crisp and lovely.
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Oh my gosh!!! I had the same reaction!!! I feel vindicated!!
(here are my thoughts: http://www.gerberadaisydiaries.com/2010/06/book-review-tuck-everlasting.html)
It was creepy.
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I am on your team–I think this book is so boring! I had to teach it last year and was not a fan.
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I loved this, my daughters loved this, but you are SO right! It's like Daddy-Long-Legs or Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (grooming, much?). I think the kidnapping always bugged me a bit. I didn't like other Babbitt books– I think it was something about the eternal youth and Winnie deciding NOT to follow them. Wrenchingly bittersweet. Hmmm.
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I feel very bipolar about this book and story. In theory, I really want to love it. The premise is beautiful and haunting and bittersweet. But, I'm with you. I didn't end up liking this book. It's too creepy for me.
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I haven't read it as an adult. I remember really loving it as a middle-school girl. I'm hesitant to read it again and taint my memories of it 😉
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I can't believe I have never read this… I have never seen the movie that came out a few years ago either.
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