Need to Read: Tuck Everlasting

I think it's easy to believe we live fenced-in lives, constantly concerned with what is acceptable and believing that this is just how things are done. Winnie Foster, from behind the iron fence surrounding her parents' house felt the same way, at least until she slipped through its bars and had an adventure.

  Tuck Everlasting is a fantasy children's novel that you can never outgrow. It is a story that can be read over and over again with just as much excitement as    the first go-around.

The young Winnie Foster, tired of being proper all the time, ventures into her family's forest property just beyond her house. Deep in the forest, she finds the Tucks and learns that they are not like most folks. Time passes differently for them, and when she is with them she feels as though time passes differently for  her too.

The Tucks have a secret. It is why they are secluded in the woods, living a different pace of life. The Tucks can live forever. They never grow old, they never get sick. The Tucks can never die.

They tell Winnie, who they have grown to love, of their secret. However, living forever is unnatural, some might even say it is a curse. Their lives go against nature, and therefore their lives are not a part of anything. They merely exist, rocks in the river of time.

But their worst nightmare is realized, someone finds out about their immortality and plans to exploit it. The Tucks and Winnie must prevent the world finding out about the Tuck's secret, but everything goes wrong. Wrapped up in murder, the law, time, and the fate of the world, Winnie and the Tucks must keep the source of the Tuck's immortality a secret. And Winnie, herself, must decide whether or not she will live beyond the iron fence and choose to live forever alongside the Tucks (more specifically alongside Jesse, the Tuck's youngest son).

This book does not disappoint. It's a short, sweet read with wonderful characters and a beautiful examination of life and people's roles in the constant stream.