*Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting: The Graphic Novel adapted by K. Woodman-Maynard

Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting: The Graphic Novel is an excellent visual presentation of a classic story.

*Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting: The Graphic Novel adapted and illustrated by K. Woodman-Maynard. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2025. 254 pages.

• Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10
• Recommended for: ages 8 and up

The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. These are strange and breathless days when people are led to do things they are sure to be sorry for after.

In their woodland cabin, Mae Tuck awakens beside her husband Angus. It’s the eve of a red-letter day: “The boys’ll be home tomorrow!” Today she has a long trip to Treegap, the nearest town, to pick up the boys and bring them home in the family wagon. “Mae Tuck didn’t need a mirror [to get ready]. Her reflection had long since ceased to interest her. For Mae Tuck, and her husband, and their sons, Miles and Jesse too, had all looked exactly the same for eight-seven years.”

Next day, Winnie Foster, age 10 and an only child, is longing to escape the tight expectations of her ever-proper grandmother. This sweltering weather is all the motivation she needs to venture beyond her front gate into the wood (always called “the wood,” never “woods”) that her family owns. There she encounters a stranger, a young man resting beside a bubbling spring, who introduces himself as Jesse Tuck. The water looks irresistible on a hot day but before she can drink Jesse leaps to prevent her, just as his mother and brother show up. Mae Tuck sighs, “The worst is happening at last.”

“The worst” involves a kidnapping, which leads to a murder, which leads to a jailbreak, all revolving like a Ferris wheel around that mysterious spring.

The graphic-novel version, published on the 50th anniversary of the original, adds imaginative touches to enhance the narrative. Words appear on furniture and in sunbeams. Color suggests mood. Facial features express complex emotions in simple lines. Circles are a repeated motif, symbolizing the cycles of time. The artist/adaptor uses dialogue from the book to allow each major character to explain themselves; each on a page where they are pictured in silhouette surrounded by images representing individual personalities and values. Winnie gets her own silhouette at the end, in a setting both surprising and fitting. She makes a choice many other girls wouldn’t, but proves wise beyond her years.

Tuck Everlasting is not a Christian story but has Christian echoes in the theme of human overreach. The original version is classic for a reason: The plain-spoken, understated elegance of the original ensures it will be around for another fifty years. This version, thoughtfully executed, makes a good introduction. Don’t miss the afterword by Natalie Babbitt’s daughter, as well as notes from the artist.

Considerations:

• Violence: One act of violence leading to murder.

Bottom Line:  An imaginative and thoughtful visualization of a classic work.

Related Reading at Redeemed Reader:

• Reviews: Haven’t read the original? See our 40th-anniversary review of Tuck Everlasting, complete with discussion questions. Janie reflects on the author’s passing, as well as her memories of Babbitt’s first published novel, The Search for Delicious.
• Review: Natalie Babbitt also illustrated other books, including All the Small Poems and Fourteen More, written by Valerie Worth.
• Review/Discussion: K. Woodman-Maynard is a graphic novelist we’ll be paying attention to! We really liked her treatment of The Great Gatsby (not all graphic adaptations of classics are well-done).

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