Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

This was by far one of my favorite books as a kid. In rereading it I was able to fall in love with the characters all over again. In this story, Winnie Foster (a ten year old girl in the 1880's) sneaks off to the forest one day and accidentally stumbles onto boy drinking from an underground spring.  The boy, Jesse Tuck, is actually 104 years old. The Tuck family had discovered this secret spring in the Foster families' woods almost a century ago, and it made them all immortal. When Winnie meets Jesse however he must convince her to keep the spring a secret, and in doing so must kidnap her for a short while. The members of the Tuck family all have different views on their immortality, most think of it as a curse, by Jesse thinks of it as a blessing, . Over the course of about 36 hours, the reader watches Winnie form an unbreakable bond with the Tuck family, which will cause Winnie to question the issue of what she has been taught of wrong and right. While abusing her parents trust, she must maintain the secret, and do things for the good of society, as well as her new friends.

Surprisingly, the "bad guys" in this story that seemed so horrible to me long ago, and to the main character Winnie Foster, seemed completely different to a me as an adult. The actions of Winnie's mother and grandmother seem no different to me now than mine views as a parent today. The man in the Yellow suit who wants to "help" return Winnie from her captors, almost seems justified in his actions. Although I would like to think his actions are awful, they seem no different then the way most people would behave in his situation. The same can be said for the Treegap Constable. He was forced to behave in the manner he did by the laws set up by society. In this book we can see how a little girl can think in a higher order than adults in her society.

This book is a definite must read for both young readers (10+) and adults.

Meet Kaya, an American Girl

This girl is the first of a series about a girl named Kaya'aton'my', or Kaya for short. The story takes place in 1764, forty years before the Lewis and Clark Expedition. She is a member of the Nez Perce tribe, the story reflects many of its traditions. From smoking fish, to seasonal migrations and religious beliefs, this book is packed with accurate historical information, and offers the reader the opportunity to explore Pre-European American life through a first person perspective.

Kaya is an adventurous little girl who lets her bragging get her into trouble. She gains the nickname "magpie" because she is viewed by others as only caring for herself. She tries many different ways to lose this nickname, and in the process, almost every page of the book has an important life lesson. For example, as Kaya learns of the mysterious disease (smallpox) that has been affecting many other villages, and killing many and scarring others, the book states "Kaya was ashamed to be worrying about an unpleasant nickname when so much suffering had come to others". Another example is when Kaya has difficulty learning how to ride her her horse, while training it to trust her. After much frustration, her father explains to that "...no one is born knowing how to ride...you have to respect the horse...it takes a lot of work to learn what we need to know in this life". These are lessons that many adults have yet to learn, and as the reader gains historical insight on an often ignored side of American history, they can benefit from personal growth. 

The final chapter of this book is non-fiction introduction to the Nez Perce culture of both past and present. One major aspect of this chapter is that Native Americans are not locked in the past. We typically learn that Native Americans were the weaker group that was run out and lost to history long ago, and this chapter directly address that issue. It describes their lives before Westward Expansion, and continues to flourish long after. My favorite sentence is "Nez Perce Indians still live on reservations in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Canada, and other places within their traditional homeland, while others live throughout the country and around the world". This information is so important for children who think that native Americans are no longer around, and it is amazing to see how many kids who harbor this misconception!  

    

The Author, Janet Shaw, is a wonderful writer who was advised by Nez Perce Tribal Elders and other members to create her story. Kidsread.com describes Ms. Shaw in an article at  http://www.kidsreads.com/series/series-american-girl-author.asp.

I really liked this book, and as stated before, it is one of five others in the series. This would be a great advantage to students if it was paired with a Social Studies unit on the same topic.