4. Tuck Everlasting

by Natalie Babbitt

It is a well known, but little considered, fact that there are fashion trends in the teaching of literature. The pedagogy set aside, what concerns me are the texts the gain in popularity and the ones that drop off the reading lists. These reading lists are sometimes referred to as the cannon and the texts as canonical. Whole sections of these lists are pretty static and tend to change rarely if at all: Hamlet and Macbeth for Brit Lit, something by Twain for American Lit, etc. Whole other sections turn over every couple of years. For example, there was a lot of buzz about trying to work Twilight into various curricula, up until the last book was published and the female protagonist had sex wherein the impulse to include the series faded out.

Since I focus on 11th and 12th grades, I tend to be pretty unaware of middle school trends but Tuck Everlasting turned up on my radar somehow, and I can only presume it was through the collective teacher subconscious.

While the story was cute, and the premise interesting, I finished Tuck Everlasting feeling rather unfulfilled. When a 10 year old if faced with the possibility of eternal life and youth, what decision would she make. I can see it go either way, really. Babbitt's conclusion however, was ill-supported through character development. Additionally, the 10 year old girl's instant infatuation with a 17 year old boy (or 104 years old really but he looks 17) seemed a little odd. Memories of being 10 are getting a little fuzzy, but I don't remember getting crushes on kids who looked 17, I got crushes on kids who looked 14 max... and I really didn't get many crushes until I was closer to 12. Additionally the fact that our 17(104) year old guy gets a similar crush on our 10 year old seems pretty....creepy. It just doesn't feel right.

Of course, I might be over-thinking this.