(7 booktalks)

Mae Tuck, Miles, Jesse and Tuck (father) have drunk from a spring that keeps them from dying. Winnie Foster finds them at the spring. They keep her overnight to make sure she knows it's better if the spring is kept secret. She's a bit of a wishful rebel. Great nature setting with sunlight, sound connections (music box, boat into water). Winnie acts on her own, separate from parents.

Booktalk #2

Winnie lives with her family outside the town of Treegap.  The Fosters are not the kind of people who welcome you to their home.  That is probably why no one ever trespasses on the woods on their land.  Winnie rarely goes into the woods but on this beautiful day, she does.  And what does she find?  A teenage boy drinking from a spring that flows deep in the woods.  Winnie questions the young man about why he is on her land.  The young man tries to explain what is happening but then Winnie finds herself the victim of a kidnapping!  Can what this strange family tell her possibly be true?  They tell her they will live forever.  You see, the water from the spring has magical qualities and once you drink it, you never grow older again.  And, you can never die.  What seems to be a good thing can actually be a curse.  The Tucks try to convince Winnie not to tell anyone about their secret.  But isn't this a miracle that should be shared? If it's true that they have found the fountain of youth?  Would you take a sip if it were offered to you? 

Booktalk #3

In a modern fantasy novel, Winnie Foster who lives outside of Treegap finds out through the Tuck family that the Wood behind her house is no ordinary Wood. She learns it contains a spring which, if drunk, grants eternal life. Could the Tucks secret actually be true? Are they really going to live forever? Although at first Winnie was skeptical of this family, she begins to love them and enjoy spending time with them. "The sign said welcome to Treegap, but it was hard to believe that this was really Treegap. The main street hadn't changed so very much, but there were many other streets now. Crossing the main street. The road itself was blacktopped. There was a white line painted down its center. Mae and Tuck, on the seat of a clattering wooden wagon, bumped slowly into Treegap behind the fat old horse. They had seen continuous change and were accustomed to it, but here it seemed shocking and sad. Look, said Tuck. Look, said Mae. Ain't that where the wood used to be? It's gone! Not a stick or a stump left! And her cottage-that's gone, too." Read, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt to find out if Winnie Foster ever goes home, if she drinks from the spring, and if she, in fact, keeps the Tucks secret.  (Shannon O'Connor, NANNER012@aol.com, college student)

Booktalk #4

What would you do if you could live forever?  On a hot summer day in the town of Treegap ten-year-old Winnie Foster discovers a secret spring in her family's woods.  Here she meets the Tuck family, Mae, Angus, Jesse and Miles, who reveal their undying secret that drinking from this spring will give her eternal life.  Join Winnie on her adventure of friendship, life, trust, and love.  (Alicia Wresinski, am-wresinski@wiu.edu, college student)

Booktalk #5

One day Winnie decides to explore the woods beside her house and discovers a boy drinking from the spring that flows through the woods.  Winnie soon finds herself a victim of kidnapping!  Can what this strange family the Tucks tell her possibly be true?  You see, the Tucks will live forever because the water from the spring is magical.  Once you drink it you will never grow older.  Winnie has to decide whether she should share this miracle or keep their secret.  Now she knows about the fountain of youth, should she too drink from the spring so she can have everlasting life? (Jenny Geisler, jl-geisler@wiu.edu, college student)

Booktalk #6

uck Everlasting is a modern fantasy chapter book written by Natalie Babbitt.

Winnie Foster was a curious eleven year old who would wonder around the woods near by.  Little did she know, she wasn't alone.  Jessie Tuck, a very charming 17 year old, was there drinking from the spring.  When Winnie stumbled upon him she decided to join.  Jessie knew he couldn't let her drink from it, for it would cause immortality.  He grabbed her up and took her far away, to the Tuck’s home.  It was there that love interests, friendships, and family formed.  It was also there that Jessie asked Winnie a question that would change her life.

“How’d it be if you was to wait till you're seventeen, same age as me?  Heck, that's only six years off?  And then you could go and drink some, and you could be with me!"

Read Tuck Everlasting to find out if Winnie decided to drink from the spring.
(Hannah Brandenburg, he-brandenburg@wiu.edu, college student)

Booktalk #7

“The water-it stops you right where you are. If you’d had a drink of it today, you’d stay a little girl forever. You’d never grow up, not ever.” If you had the choice of living forever, would you? Tuck Everlasting, a modern fantasy novel by Natalie Babbitt, is a suspenseful, adventurous and magical story that will constantly force you to think “What if?” The story begins with 10 year old Winnie Foster who stumbles upon a spring in her family’s woods. This is no ordinary spring, however. Here is where she meets the tuck family who bring their everlasting secret to light-that drinking from the spring is literally drinking from the fountain of youth, granting you with eternal life. The Tuck’s will never grow old, never die. Winnie is faced with an ultimate dilemma when her newly developed relationship with the tucks, and her love for Jesse Tuck in particular, is threatened.  Will Winnie drink from the spring and stay young forever? Join her on this cryptic adventure and find out! (Jade Romero,  jmr163@wiu.edu,  college student)