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Find out moreNatalie Babbitt started out as an illustrator, and wrote and illustrated many novels and picture books for children. Her first book, Tuck Everlasting, was published in 1975. It has won many awards and been turned into two films and a Broadway musical. It is now considered a classic of children's writing. Natalie has also won numerous awards for her other books and in 2012 was awarded the inaugural E.B. White Award for achievement in children's literature. She died in 2016 at the age of 84.
First published in 1975, this extraordinary story of the friendship between the gentle Tuck family and ten-year-old Winnie feels older than its years, but also of our age, in the magical way true classics do. The story is enthrallingly set-up by juxtaposing three apparently unconnected happenings during the “strange and breathless days” of a hot August. As the Prologue states, and as things turn out, “things can come together in strange ways.” Dissatisfied at home, Winnie longs to do “something that would make some kind of difference in the world.” Certain this will never happen “if I stay in here like this,” she explores her family’s wood and chances upon a “glorious” boy who stops Winnie in her tracks, and warns her against drinking from a spring. Winnie meets the boy’s family - the Tucks - and discovers a “big, dangerous secret” that must ever be revealed if their way of life is to be preserved, if the equilibrium of humanity is to be maintained, for the spring seems to have granted the Tucks everlasting life. In their company, in their warm-hearted, higgledy-piggledy home, Winnie “discovered the wings she’d always wished she had”. For their part, the Tucks say she’s the best thing that’s happened to them in “at least eighty years.” Then, when a yellow-suited stranger seeks to disrupt the Tuck’s lives, Winnie bravely leaps on her opportunity to make a difference. Dazzlingly written (how about this for a description of sunset? “The sun was dropping fast now, a soft, red sliding egg yolk”), this is a wondrously wise story. Take Tuck’s remarks about the nature of life and death: “You can’t have living without dying. So you can’t call it living, what we got. We just are, we just be, like rocks beside the road.” With a bittersweet ending that brings tears to the eyes and warmth to the soul, I couldn’t love this book more. It’s that rare kind of tale that speaks of all things, to all ages.
In this collection of essays and speeches written over the course of four decades, this beloved storyteller explores what it was like to be a little dog in the literary world, continually being forced to justify her choice to write books for children - instead of doing something more serious. Filled with incisive commentary on classic children's books as well as contemporary works, Barking with the Big Dogs offers colorful insight into the creative life of a writer who was a true literary giant of her day. Includes an introduction by Newbery Medalist Katherine Applegate, photographs, and other illustrations.
Winnie Foster is in the woods, thinking of running away from home, when she sees a boy drinking from a spring. Winnie wants a drink too, but before she can take a sip, she is kidnapped by the boy, Jesse Tuck, and his family. She learns that the Tuck family are blessed with - or doomed to - eternal life since drinking from the spring, and they wander from place to place trying to live as inconspicuously as they can. Now Winnie knows their secret. But what does immortality really mean? And can the Tucks help her understand before it's too late? A beautiful new hardcover gift edition of the unforgettable classic of children's writing about what it truly means to live forever
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 of a blessing than it might seem. Then complications arise when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune. A brand-new foreword from Gregory Maguire, the author of Wicked, and additional bonus materials make this special edition a must-have for lovers of the book and a great way to introduce a new generation to a classic.
"e;Phoebe Euphemia Brandon Brown hated the bows, frills, ruffles, sashes, and curls that were the fashion in 1904...The story of Phoebe's one-woman revolution and its outcome is sure to strike a spark in other little girls with minds of their own."e;--Booklist
Mylo...is afraid of an indefinable Something coming in through his window at night. Given some modeling clay by his concerned mother, he finally succeeds in making a statue of the Something...The clever, ironic story interprets common childhood fears of the dark in a way that should prove highly amusing to many small children."e;--Starred/Booklist
Nellie, a cat marionette who loves to dance, finds adventure and freedom on a moonlit hilltop.
The Devil is back, just as full of vanity and other human feelings as he was in Natalie Babbitt's first collection, The Devil's Storybook.
A gifted artist and writer, Natalie Babbitt's novels are inspired by a brilliance and imagination that is completely original. She began her career in 1966 with the publication of a picture book, The Forty-Ninth Magician, a collaboration with her husband, Samuel Fisher Babbitt. Her first novel, The Search for Delicious, established her gift for writing magical tales with a more profound meaning embedded within them. Kneeknock Rise earned her a Newbery Honor Medal, but it is Tuck Everlasting which has insured Babbitt's place in the history of children's literature. Babbitt has written six more novels including The Eyes of the Amaryllis and Goody Hall-each one presenting her unique vision of an enchanted world. Her latest novel, Jack Plank Tells Tales, was published in Spring 2007.Natalie Babbitt lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and is a grandmother of three. When asked what she wants readers to remember about her books, she replied, "e;the questions without answers."e;
Yes, Jack Plank started out to be a pirate. His shipmates all liked him, and their ship, the Avarice, was certainly very beautiful. But after a while it was clear that he wasn't much good at plundering. He just didn't have the knack for it. So what to do? Jack did the only thing he could dohe went ashore to look for another line of work. The town was called Salt-wash, on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, and he had a lot of helpful advice from the people in Mrs. DelFresno's boardinghouse. Somehow, though, each career he looked into seemed to have something wrong with it. And every night at dinner in the boardinghouse he tried to explain why. For who would want to work where there might be a troll, or the danger of getting a crab caught in your beard? Or what about a music-loving crocodile? There were other things, too, that ran against every suggestion and took the wind out of his sails. At last, Jack decided he wouldn't be good at anything onshore and would have to go back to sea, pirate or not. But sometimes, as you probably know already, things work out very nicely when you least expect it.
When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles upon the Tuck family's disturbing secret, she is forced to come to terms with her conflicting emotions. She feels drawn to the loving, gentle and rather eccentric Tucks, but what they tell her is too incredible to be believed. Doomed toor blessed witheternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family tries to make Winnie understand that the terrible magic of the forest spring can never be revealed. The consequences to the world could prove to be disastrous!But then an unexpected complication arises when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to sell the spring water and make a fortune.
'Intense and powerful, exciting and poignant, Tuck Everlasting will last forever - in the reader's imagination.' Amazon.comWas it true, they could really never die, these Tucks? When Winnie stumbles across a spring that can bestow the gift of everlasting life, she also stumbles across the unforgettable Tuck family. They have kept the spring a secret for years but now need to take grave measures now it is in danger of being revealed... The lyrical quality of this timeless classic evokes season, time and place. Images and motifs are interwoven, enabling a response on many levels. Age 10+
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 kidnap her and explain why living forever at one age is less than a blessing that it might seem. 'Intense and powerful, exciting and poignant, Tuck Everlasting will last forever - in the reader's imagination.' Amazon.com
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