The first meeting of the Throwback Thrsday Book & Movie Club will be this Thursday Night, August 21, from 6:30 – 8:30. at Jacki Kellum Studios = 26 South Main – in Water Valley, MS
Throwback Thursdays is an adult-only club. I’ll serve tea, water, and coffee. If anyone prefers wine, he or she should bring his or her own wine. The event is free, but I am asking that attendees bring a snack, a dish, a salad, or a dessert.
Allow me to be up front about the fact that Tuck Everlasting is a book identified as appropriate for middle schoolers, but that doesn’t bother me. In fact, I don’t much like labels–in regard to books. In my opinion, Tuck Everlasting is beautifully written, and I taught the book in a college writing class.
Nata,ke Babbittt harnesses the same literary themes you will find in the best adult fiction. The differnce is that Babbitt tells her story in 160 pages and not 1160 pages,
For most of us. who are time-challenged, a short, outstanding book is a plus:
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Probably the best work of our best children’s novelist.” ―Harper’s
“Exciting and excellently written.” ―The New York Times Book Review
“A fearsome and beautifully written book that can’t be put down or forgotten.” ―The New Yorker
“This book is as shapely, crisp, sweet, and tangy as a summer-ripe pear.” ―Entertainment Weekly
“With its serious intentions and light touch the story is, like the Tucks, timeless.” ―Chicago Sun-Times
“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 author manipulates her plot deftly, dealing with six main characters brought together because of a spring whose waters can bestow everlasting life. . . . Underlying the drama is the dilemma of the age-old desire for perpetual youth.” ―The Horn Book Magazine
“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
“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
Since we haven’t had a month to read Tuck, the book’s brevity is especially good. I almost canceled Tuck Everlasting, but since the book takes place in August, I decided to forge ahead.
If participants have time to look at the following posts, they should glean some understanding of he book. But if you don’t have time to do the reading, don’t worry:
Tuck Everlasting – Prologue
Tuck Everlasting August 1 – A Celebration of Time and Nature — A Celebration of Life
Tuck Everlasting Chapter 1 – Capturing the Essence of the Spiritual in Nature: A Lesson in Descriptive Writing – Read to Learn to Write
Tuck Everlasting Chapter 2 – A Lesson in Creating Characters, Conflict, and Foreshadowing in Writing
Tuck Everlasting Chapter 3 – A Lesson in “Showing” and Not “Telling”
Tuck Everlasting Chapter 4 – A Brush with Darkness – Read to Learn to Write with Literary Themes – More Character Development & The Use of Ambiguity in Writing – Celebrating the Moon
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