Tuck Everlasting

Tuck Everlasting is a fantasy children's novel by Natalie Babbitt, published in 1975. Drawing up some of the same themes as Peter and Wendy, the book explores the concept of immortality and the reasons why it might not be as desirable as it appears. It has sold over two million copies and has been called a classic of modern children's literature.

Plot
The novel is set in the 1880s, and its protagonist is ten-year-old Winifred "Winnie" Foster. She comes from a well-bred, straitlaced family who keep her locked away behind a 4 foot iron fence that surrounds their home. They are the oldest family in the town, and own the surrounding woods. When running away from her confinement and into the woods one morning, she finds a beautiful tree from which a spring of water pours, with a young man drinking from it. This discovery leads her to learn of Jesse Tuck and the rest of his family, who are immortal as a result of drinking from this spring over a century earlier. The family decides it best to take Winnie away with them to explain the secret and why it must be kept - but all the while, a man in a yellow suit has been watching. He has come to the town in hopes of finding the spring (which he had heard of through stories told by his grandmother) and selling it to the highest bidder. He sees the incident as a kidnapping, and uses it to his advantage in order to buy the woods from the Foster family.

Meanwhile, the Tucks introduce Winnie to their strange limbo existence, and she grows to love them like the family she never truly had. Their are affectionate, without strict rules, and live humbly in the woods 20 miles from town. They teach her why unleashing immortality upon the world would disrupt the balance of life, throwing human beings out of the great cycle of life and death and turning them into the equivalent of rocks. Their brief time together is ended when the man in the yellow suit confronts the family, who he has tracked to their home after the "abduction". After hearing his plan, Mae Tuck takes out a rifle and hits him over the head with it, from which he eventually dies. The sheriff, who has followed the man, sees the entire incident. Mae is incarcerated in the newly built jail, and will be hanged – but since she cannot die, her date with the gallows will but reveal the Tuck's secret to the world. Meeting the family by the jailhouse the night before Mae's "execution", the boys jimmy open the jailbars and Winnie takes the place of Mae in the cell. They then escape, while Winnie is found in the cell the next day. She gets in trouble for helping the Tucks escape, but the secret is safe.

At the end it is revealed that Winnie dies two years before the Tucks return to the town, seeking to find her and make sure the spring is safe. It has been destroyed, and so the Tucks carry on.

Reception
In the years since its publication the novel has come to be regarded as a modern classic of children's literature. It has become an international best-seller, with worldwide sales of over two million. Horn Book Magazine has called it "Flawless in both style and structure" while Harper's has hailed it as "the best work of our best children's novelist."

The novel was selected as an ALA Notable Book as well as being included on the Horn Book Magazine Fanfare List. It has received numerous awards since its publication including the Janusz Korczak Medal and the 1976 Christopher Award for Best Book for Young People. It was also included in Anita Silvey's book The 100 Best Books For Children.

Adaptations
The novel has been adapted into a film twice. The first was released in 1981 and distributed by One Pass Media. The second was by Disney in 2002. It was directed by Jay Russell and starred Alexis Bledel as Winnie, Jonathan Jackson as Jesse, and William Hurt and Sissy Spacek as his parents. It received mixed, but generally favorable reviews and currently holds a 61% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. The New York Post praised it as "handsomely crafted and well-acted". It grossed $19,161,999 at the domestic box office and did not receive a wide-release in foreign territories.