Tuck Everlasting

Tuck Everlasting

• Genre: Fiction; middle grade fantasy
• Originally Published: 1975
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 770L; grades 4-6
• Structure/Length: Prologue, 25 chapters, epilogue; approx. 160 pages; approx. 3 hours, 31 minutes on audio
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: Ten-year-old Winnie Foster meets the peculiar Tuck family when she discovers a spring on her family property. The Tucks drank from the spring a long time ago and found themselves immortal. As they tell Winnie about their experiences, Winnie must decide whether or not she will keep the Tucks’ secret or if she’ll drink from the spring and become immortal too.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Kidnapping, death, imprisonment, assault 

Natalie Babbitt, Author

• Bio: 1932-2016; American writer and illustrator; born in Dayton, Ohio; attended Smith College; collaborated with her husband to create her first book The Forty-Ninth Magician; Tuck Everlasting is her most popular and most-loved work that has been adapted into two movies and a play
• Other Works: The Search for Delicious (1969); Goody Hall (1971); The Devil’s Storybook (1974); The Eyes of Amaryllis (1977)
• Awards: Christopher Award (1976); ALA Notable Book (1976); Horn Book Honor Book (1976); International Reading Association US Honor Book (1978); Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (1978)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The Difference Between Immorality and a Life Well-Lived
• Found Families Versus Biological Families
• All Things Are Connected

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the social and historical context surrounding families in the 1800s that incite Winnie’s conflict.
• Analyze paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of The Difference Between Immorality and a Life Well-Lived, Found Families Versus Biological Families, and All Things Are Connected.
• Plan, design, and compose a narrative from the toad’s perspective based on text details.
• Analyze and evaluate the plot and character details to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding the weather, natural death, and other topics.