“40 Days for 40 Years” Tuck Everlasting blog tour #Tuck40th @MacKidsBooks

Reader Girls is part of a very special blog tour which celebrates an exciting milestone for a particularly beloved children's book. We bring you "Tuck Everlasting 40 Days for 40 Years" blog tour presented by Macmillan Publishing. A special edition of Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt was released on January 20th and author Gregory Maguire (Wicked) has penned a cool and touching introduction. 

Some books come into our lives and go out of it soon after. Then there are 'the classics'--the ones with "staying power," the ones we cherish and remember fondly just about forever. For Meg, one of our own Reader Girls, Tuck Everlasting is one such book. Read in fourth grade, Tuck Everlasting touched a chord in her. Then there was the movie, a discussion followed afterwards about adaptation, but the book is the true force of her love and admiration. The story, its characters and a certain magical spring will forever remain etched in this reader's heart and mind. And the most important question raised when reading this gem concerns immortality. It's a subject many think about but up until Natalie Babbitt posed it in her novel did we see this subject covered in children's literature.

Thanks for joining us today. Below we answer the tour-wide question, “What if you could live forever?” Want to know more about Tuck Everlasting? Go here to read an excerpt and to pick up your own copy.

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

40th Anniversary Edition

192 pages

On sale January 20, 2015

Published by Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers | Ages 10 – 14 / Grades 4 – 8

Hardcover: 978-0-374-30167-5

Paperback: 978-1-250-05929-1

Blessed with—or doomed to—eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family wanders about trying to live as inconspicuously and comfortably as they can. When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles on their secret, the Tucks take her home and explain why living forever at one age is less of a blessing than it might seem. Complications arise when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune.

A brand-new introduction from Gregory Maguire, the author of Wicked, and additional bonus materials make this special edition of Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting a must-have for lovers of the book and a great way to introduce a new generation to a classic.

“What if you could live forever?”

Tuck Everlasting asks readers “What if you could live forever?” Doomed to, or blessed with, eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family wanders about trying to live as inconspicuously and comfortably as they can. When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles on their secret, the Tucks take her home and explain why living forever at one age is less of a blessing than it might seem. Then complications arise when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune.

What would we do if we lived for forever? Hmm, let's see. Meg says she would like to travel and learn about as many things, meet as many people, and see as many places as possible. Caity would also like to travel and meet others. I too would spend time traveling but I would also spend more time in places I fell in love with. Imagine living in a thatched cottage in Ireland for years? As a writer, these experiences would be invaluable, and the memories unforgettable. Of course, we would keep our immortality secret (we would not seek celebrity status or do the talk show circuit) so we would have to move around from place to place (like a vampire) not to arouse suspicion from our neighbors.

We thank Macmillan Publishing for the book and for the opportunity to participate in this wonderful celebration.