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Overview
Doomed to—or blessed with—eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family wanders about trying to live as inconspicuously and comfortably as they can. When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles on their secret, the Tucks take her home and explain why living forever at one age is less a blessing that it might seem. Complications arise when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune.
The Tuck family is confronted with an agonizing situation when they discover that a ten-year-old girl and a malicious stranger now share their secret about a spring whose water prevents one from ever growing older.
Synopsis
Is eternal life a blessing or a curse?
Horn Book
. . . It is rich in imagery and punctuated with light fillips of humor. The author manipulates her plot deftly . . .
Editorials
From the Publisher
“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 Horn Book Magazine“Beautiful and descriptive language is the strength of Babbitt’s fantasy about Winnie and her encounter with the Tuck family, who cause her—and readers—to ponder an important question: What would it be like to live forever?”—Booklist
“Probably the best work of our best children’s novelist.”—Harper’s
“A fearsome and beautifully written book that can’t be put down or forgotten.”—The New Yorker
“Exciting and excellently written.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Natalie Babbitt’s great skill is spinning fantasy with the lilt and sense of timeless wisdom of the old fairy tales. . . . It lingers on, haunting your waking hours, making you ponder.”—The Boston Globe
“With its serious intentions and light touch the story is, like the Tucks, timeless.”—Chicago Sun-Times
“This book is as shapely, crisp, sweet, and tangy as a summer-ripe pear.”—Entertainment Weekly