Tuck #40th Blog Tour

I first read TUCK EVERLASTING in in 6th grade. I remember reading it really clearly, being swept into Winnie’s story, and being thrilled and scared at the prospect of living forever. It’s a question that’s haunted me since then, in other books, movies and television shows. There’s an incredible lure to it, and also an undercurrent of wonder and fear. What WOULD you do if you could live forever? What would I do if I could live forever?

This incredible book is turning 40, and MacMillan wants us all to celebrate the story Natalie Babbitt chose to tell with Winnie and Jesse and the Tucks. I know I’ve never forgotten it – I watched the 2002 film so many times I could recite lines.

Winnie has the choice to make: to grow old with this amazing boy and his family, or to live her life normally, but to live it WELL.

I’ve thought about her story so many times, and the truth is, if I lived forever, the choices would be unlimited. I could read every book I’ve wanted to read. Listen to all the music I haven’t heard. Get as many college degrees as I wanted. See this beautiful, huge world.

But would forever be TOO long? Would I WANT to live forever? That’s my fear. And I wouldn’t want to live forever unless I could be with my family and my friends, and they got in on the deal too. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be nearly as much as an adventure, even with Jesse at my side.

I keep coming back to one of the quotes from the book, one that’s stuck with me for a long, long time:

“Don’t be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don’t have to live forever, you just have to live.”

 Maybe that’s my answer.

So, would YOU want to live forever, or not? Have you read TUCK EVERLASTING? Did it make as big of an impression on you as it made on me? I’ve never forgotten the book or how I felt when I read it.