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Tuck para siempre
Tuck para siempre
Tuck para siempre
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Tuck para siempre

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"Problemente el mejor trabajo de nuestro mejor novelista para niños." —Harper's

"Un libro escribito bellamente y con respeto, que no se puede interrumpir ni olvidar." —Jean Stafford, The New Yorker

"Condenada a—o bendecida con—vida eterna después de beber el agua de un manantial encantado, la familia Tuck deambula tratando de vivir lo mas inadvertida y cómodamente posible. Cuando Winnie Foster, una niña de diez años, descubre su secreto, los Tucks la llevan a su casa y le explican por qué vivir eternamente sin envejecer no es en realidad una bendición. Las cosas se complican cuando un extraño que ha seguido a Winnie quiere poner a la venta el agua del manatial por una fortuna." —School Library Journal, estrella

"Raramente se encuentra un libro con prosa tan clara. Perfecto en estilo y estructura, es rico en imágenes y está salpicado con ligeros chasquidos de humor." —The Horn Book

Un libro en Español

Libro Notable de la ALA

Spanish translation of the story of the Tuck family, 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 a blessing that it might seem. Complications arise when Winnie is followed by a starnger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune.

“Rarely does one find a book with such prose. Flawless in both style and structure, it is rich in imagery and punctuated with light fillips of humor. The author manipulates her plot deftly, dealing with six main characters brought together because of a spring whose waters can bestow everlasting life. . . Underlying the drama is the dilemma of the age-old desire for perpetual youth.” —The Horn Book

LanguageEspañol
Release dateFeb 9, 2016
ISBN9781250112668
Tuck para siempre
Author

Natalie Babbitt

Artist and writer Natalie Babbitt (1932–2016) is the award-winning author of the modern classic Tuck Everlasting and many other brilliantly original books for young people. As the mother of three small children, she began her career in 1966 by illustrating The Forty-Ninth Magician, written by her husband, Samuel Babbitt. She soon tried her own hand at writing, publishing two picture books in verse. Her first novel, The Search for Delicious, was published in 1969 and established her reputation for creating magical tales with profound meaning. Kneeknock Rise earned Babbitt a Newbery Honor in 1971, and she went on to write—and often illustrate—many more picture books, story collections, and novels. She also illustrated the five volumes in the Small Poems series by Valerie Worth. In 2002, Tuck Everlasting was adapted into a major motion picture, and in 2016 a musical version premiered on Broadway. Born and raised in Ohio, Natalie Babbitt lived her adult life in the Northeast.

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Rating: 3.96011564477842 out of 5 stars
4/5

2,595 ratings194 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It was ok, I have been pretending that I was going to read this book for years so I figured this would be a good time. I liked it enough to finish it, but I don't know if I'd recomend it to anyone. A nice idea though.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've seen the movie that came out a few years ago, and I thought I'd read the book as a child, but I was imagining a totally different ending. Regardless, I absolutely loved this book. The writing was so beautiful - I re-read the first page several times over because the sentences were perfection. The idea is also really unique - a family drinks from an innocent-looking spring only to find the water basically froze them in time. They never age, and nothing can kill them - which is both a blessing and a curse. When Winnie stumbles across the family, she's swept in by them and their magical lives. Really makes you ponder if you'd drink from that spring or not.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Heartwarming and depressing all at once.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Winnie Foster is always locked up in her house. One day, she runs away and sees a tree which springs water. A young man, Jesse Tuck, is drinking from it. Winnie leans to drink, however he stops her. Jesse's brother and mother appear, and take Winnie with them. They tell her their biggest secret: the spring has the ability to give eternal life. Subsequently, Winnie learns about the circle of life, friendship and love. She falls in love with Jesse.

    On the other side, a man in a yellow suit has been investigating them and wanted the spring so badly. He takes Winnie as a hostage so they can show him the spring. The mother of Jesse hit his head and he died. She is sent to gallows and escapes it thereafter. The Tucks bid farewell. Jesse left her a bottle of spring water to drink, and promised that he will come back for her.

    The Tucks return to Treegap and discovered that Winnie had chosen life with death rather than life eternal as they found her headstone. The woods have been demolished and new buildings and roads have been built. They feel terribly sad and continue to travel.

    I hate how this is being compared to Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.
    Winnie choose to be mortal whilst Bella choose to be immortal.
    C'mon, a girl is smarter than a grown up woman. If someone would defend Bella for being in love, I will tell you that Winnie was also in love. She, however, choose to be mortal and live life as how it should be. If some may say that she is young and not in love, then I would ask how do you know if she is not? And if she was not in love, she still made the best decision. Why does a girl needs a guy to have a happy ending? The main point here is that you don't have to live forever, you just have to live.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The ending made me weep like a small child. This is the first book that ever made me cry like that. Amazing storytelling!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Truly a wonderful story. We fell in love with the Tucks just as Winnie did; the writing is truly superb and makes you wish she had written several epic adult novels.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Thank you Karen for recommending this book! It's a cute story. Oh, how I wish I could find a magic spring that stops me from aging, but I'd rather find it at 20-something than at my current age. It's worth reading.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Read again after a couple decades, for GR's GMGR group. Wow. Worth a reread for sure. The themes are wonderful, of course, but the writing is even more lovely than I realized.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was about a young girl who was curious of the world outside her. Her parents have always been very strict, and she thought to run away so that she could get away from her strict home. She had ideas of what it was going to be like, but what actually happened was way beyond what she could have imagined. She put herself in a position to learn information she wasn't supposed to. She was gone for a few days, and her parents thought she had been kidnapped. The story goes on to solve everything.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    While I found it an interesting read, it lacked a depth in the characters that I had so hoped for. I think it would be a good read for upper elementary or middle school.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Well now I'm beginning to wonder what took me so long to read this book...... I read over dinner last night and I found it to be suspenseful, spooky, magical and heartwarming!

    Winnie lives at the edge of town w/ her parents in a very particular house that backs up onto the woods. Being a much prized & only child, Winnie has never been allowed far from her family.

    The woods is a magical place where very few people ever visit..... Except the Tucks, who visit every ten years or so. The Tucks are an odd family who are content with their life, although never seem to age......

    Then comes along the smarmy man in the yellow suit with bad intent in his heart......

    When Winnie, the Tucks, & the smarmy man meet up, well nothing good can happen.... or can it?

    What a delightful book, and first I wasn't liking the author's style of writing, but as my interest in the story grew, I was able to ignore the style and I became entranced with the story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Tuck Everlasting is about a girl named Winnie who meets the Tuck family who are immortal. Winnie learns the perks and downsides of being immortal and about family and love. This is a good fantasy because there is no spring that gives families eternal life.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In the late 1800s, Mae Foster encounters the Tuck family. 80 years earlier, the whole family had drunk from a spring that now sat on her family's property. After drinking the water, they never aged again, and could no be killed. Mae must decide whether it would be better to drink from the spring and live forever, or live her life as a normal mortal, and eventually die.Nicely written little book that asks the reader to consider the same hypothetical question.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A total masterpiece. This book made me think about the question of which every one of us wants to know the answer - is it that good to live forever? I love the way the writer insists on telling both the positive and negative sides of leaving forever and staying forever young.. I know I won't stop thinking about this book in a while.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Exquisitely beautiful.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book asks a question, “Would you want to live forever?” but does not have an answer. It makes for a great book to read and discuss with your kids. It will challenge them to think critically. And it’s short so it’s easy for busy grown-ups to find time to read.I liked that this book does not dumb down the language just because it’s a kid’s book. The prose is beautifully descriptive and there were some great vocabulary words. I read it with my son and we looked up the words he didn’t know as we went. It averaged one or two per chapter – not too burdensome. As Ms. Babbitt says in the interview in the back of the book,“Some time during the last forty years, people have decided that children can’t understand any words that have more than four or five letters. That’s just plain crazy…There’s no other way to enlarge our vocabularies. The more words you have at your disposal, the easier it is to say what you want to say, specifically.”This is a great book for middle graders when you’re looking for something a little more sophisticated than the Wimpy Kid books and that ilk for a change of pace.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really only finished this book because there are so many allusions to it in other books. I tried to read the book, but I found it to be very dry and boring. Instead, I opted into listening to the audiobook version in the car. This story had moving messages about the value of life and the purpose of death, but I personally did not love the message for children. I love the idea of teaching children to value life, but I feel that that should be done by teaching children to love life for the beauty within it, not for fear of death. Also, there were very many stereotypical and troublesome gender roles. I did love that the female, child lead character saved the day.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book felt pretty trivial and predictable to me. Nonetheless, it was well written, and the weather was very well described. Much more suitable for kids than for adults, as it is predictable and doesn't explore its premise very well.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book!!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book reminded me of a well-told fairy tale. When eleven-year-old Winnie Foster meets the Tuck family in the forest near a spring, they must stop her from drinking the water lest she suffers the same fate that has befallen them. As they tell her their story, she shows them true compassion and expresses wisdom beyond her years in the decisions that she makes. In this relative short book, Babbitt has created characters that will stick with me for a long time.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Wonderfully bittersweet. I was touched at the clarity with which Winnie narrated. She may have been a bit older than 10 in her style, and ultimately the author's style, but there are those precocious children.

    I found myself wondering where in the world this wood was, and settled for America or England. Pretty good for a stab in the dark. This is a tinge serious for a children's book, but I think it's purity rings true. Much more novel-like would have been if Winnie were older...

    The ending is sad, and children may be affected by it. I know I was.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A cheery ‘lil book about some deep philosophical issues on death and dying as viewed by a girl who talks to toads.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A great read. It was fast-paced with loving characters. I seriously didn't want this book to end. Read the book and then see the movie. You will be pleasantly surprised at how accurate the movie is to the book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Genre: Historical Fiction. Tuck everlasting is set in the 1800's. Much of the customs and norms of the time are used. Characterization: Winnie is a round dynamic character. Through the story she grows and in the end does not choose eternal life. Media: N/A
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    my synopsisWinnie Foster leads a sheltered life, and longs to runaway from the disapproving eyes of her family. One day, after wondering into the woods her family owns, Winnie stumbles into an adventure that turns out to be nothing like she ever imagined. She meets a family claiming to have obtained eternal life from drinking from a spring in the woods. But living forever isn't all it's cracked up to be... ReviewI have to admit that I watched the film first, and didn't even know this book existed until I came upon it. So, that being said, I was expecting a bit more romance, but there was some. I really enjoyed this bite-size novel about friendship. It's whimsical with just the right amount of darkness and force to make it enjoyable for children and adults alike.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Closing the gate on her oldest fears as she closed the gate of her own fenced yard, she discovered the wings she'd always wished she had. Page 45It was a typical August week during the height of the summer heat that Winnie is kidnapped by a strange family that claim that they are immortal. Somewhere in the middle of the forest adjacent to Winnie's cottage is a little fountain hidden within the roots of an ancient tree that has the power to grant any who drink from it the ability to live forever. Winnie is confronted with the choice whether to believe this outrageous claim or not. Tuck Everlasting is a quaint little story that deals with some large adult themes. The strengths of the book is the author's ability to make some very deep questions of life very accessible for a younger audience. Yet the strength of the novel also attributes to it's shortcomings. The story can be at times be a bit too simple and superficial. I felt like the plot and the characters could have been more fully fleshed out, but for its intended audience, the story can be an excellent platform for discussions and explorations.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    aw, this book is so sweet and haunting. I can't wait to read it with my students.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Winnie Foster meets the Tucks, a family accidentally made immortal by a strange spring in the forest. I'm always interested in stories about immortality. Many of the common motifs involve the ability to be killed (Highlander, vampires) or stipulate that the immortality is only as long as the individual is rejuvenated with some sort of elixir of life. Here, the Tucks not only don't age or get sick, they cannot be killed. Drinking from the spring is completely irreversible, and they will be around until the end of time. Which is a pretty scary prospect, if you think about it, and the dilemma is handled well here. The ending is bittersweet and satisfying. Now I want to go find a toad of my own.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A very good book about mystery and friendship. read this if you like good books!!!!!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was a great book that told of Tuck family. This family was one that lived by themselves. They did this due to they did not age. They could not die. Winnie accidently ran into them and they took her to their home to explain why she could not tell anyone about them. This is a great book. It was hard to put down when I was reading it. It made the reading seem as you were in the book. I think this is a great book for the kids to read. It could be used in many ways in the classroom. This was a touching story.In the classroom it could be used by the children by having them to write what they would do and feel if they lived forever. You could also have the children to draw what they believe the wood looked like. The book would be good to use in a grand conversation by predicting the outcome before you read the story.

Book preview

Tuck para siempre - Natalie Babbitt

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Prólogo

La primera semana de agosto queda suspendida en el punto más álgido del verano, el punto más álgido de todo el año, como la cabina más alta de una noria cuando ésta cesa de girar. Las semanas precedentes sólo son una ascensión desde la tibieza de la primavera, y las posteriores, una caída en picado hasta el frío del otoño; pero la primera semana de agosto es inmóvil y tórrida. Y también curiosamente silenciosa, con claros amaneceres blancos, cenits deslumbrantes y crepúsculos embadurnados de excesivo color. A menudo, por la noche, un rayo rasga el cielo, pero sin más. No hay truenos ni el consuelo de la lluvia. Son días extraños y agobiantes, días de canícula, en los que las personas se sienten impulsadas a hacer cosas, aun sabiendo que luego se arrepentirán.

Un día no muy lejano, durante esa época, ocurrieron tres cosas que, al principio, no parecían guardar ninguna relación.

Al alba, Mae Tuck, montada a caballo, se dirigió al bosque que había en las afueras del pueblo de Treegap. Como cada diez años, iba al encuentro de sus dos hijos, Miles y Jesse.

A mediodía, a Winnie Foster, cuya familia era la propietaria del bosque de Treegap, se le agotó la poca paciencia que le quedaba y decidió fugarse.

Y al atardecer, un forastero apareció en la puerta de los Foster. Estaba buscando a alguien, pero no dijo a quién.

Ninguna relación, como veis. Pero las cosas pueden confluir entre ellas por razones extrañas. El bosque estaba en el centro, era el eje de la rueda. Todas las ruedas tienen un eje. Y las norias también, de la misma manera que el sol es el eje del reloj del mismo nombre. Son puntos fijos, y más vale dejarlos en paz, ya que sin ellos nada se aguanta en pie. Pero eso a veces se descubre demasiado tarde.

1

El camino que conducía a Treegap lo había trazado mucho tiempo atrás un rebaño de vacas que se lo tomaban, por decir algo, con mucha calma. Describía curvas, ángulos suaves, se desviaba en una apacible tangente hasta lo alto de una pequeña loma, bajaba pausadamente por entre márgenes de tréboles libados por numerosas abejas y cortaba luego a través de un prado. Aquí se difuminaban sus límites. Se ensanchaba y parecía interrumpirse, evocando tranquilos picnics bovinos: lento rumiar y meditabunda contemplación del infinito. Entonces reemprendía su curso hasta el bosque. Sin embargo, al llegar a la sombra de los primeros árboles, se desviaba abruptamente describiendo un ancho arco, como si, por primera vez, cayera en la cuenta del lugar al que se dirigía, y lo pasaba dando un rodeo.

Al otro lado del bosque, se disolvía esta sensación de suavidad. El camino ya no pertenecía a las vacas. De golpe y porrazo, el sol volvía a ser asfixiante y abrasador, el polvo, opresivo, y la escasa hierba que lo flanqueaba, raída y desolada. A la izquierda, se erguía la primera casa, una finca sólida y convencional, con aspecto de mírame y no me toques, rodeada por un césped cuidadosamente segado y encerrada dentro de una imponente cerca metálica de casi un metro de altura que parecía decir sin dar pie a equívocos: Sigue caminando, no te queremos aquí. Así pues, el camino proseguía su trayecto con humildad, bordeando fincas cada vez más frecuentes, aunque menos inaccesibles, hasta el pueblo. Pero, salvo por la cárcel y la horca, el pueblo no tiene importancia. Sólo es importante la primera casa; la primera casa, el camino y el bosque.

El bosque tenía algo extraño. Si el aspecto de la primera casa sugería que era mejor pasar de largo, con el bosque ocurría lo mismo, aunque por una razón completamente distinta. La casa se veía tan satisfecha de sí misma que a uno le daban ganas de hacer mucho jaleo al pasar, incluso de tirarle un par de pedruscos. Pero el bosque tenía un aire soñoliento, sobrenatural, que inducía a cuchichear en vez de hablar. Eso, por lo menos, es lo que debieron pensar las vacas: Dejémoslo en paz; no lo perturbemos.

Es difícil saber si la gente sentía lo mismo con respecto al bosque. Puede que algunos sí. Pero la mayoría rodeaba el bosque por la sencilla razón de que ése era el trazado del camino. No había senderos que atravesaran el bosque. Por otra parte, los viandantes tenían otra razón para no acercarse al bosque: pertenecía a los Foster, los que vivían en la finca Mírame y no me toques, y, en consecuencia, era propiedad privada, pese a estar fuera de la cerca y ser perfectamente accesible.

Es curiosa la propiedad de la tierra, cuando nos paramos a pensarlo. ¿Hasta qué profundidad llega? Si una persona posee una parcela de tierra, ¿también la posee en sentido vertical, estrechándose gradualmente hasta confluir con todas las demás parcelas en el centro de la Tierra? ¿O la propiedad consiste en una capa delgada bajo la cual los amigos gusanos tienen prohibido el paso?

Sea como fuere, el bosque, al estar en la superficie —salvo, claro está, las raíces—, era propiedad de los habitantes de la finca Mírame y no me toques, los Foster, y, si ellos nunca iban, si nunca paseaban por entre los árboles, era asunto suyo. Winnie, la única niña de la finca, nunca había ido al bosque, aunque, a veces, parada al otro lado de la cerca, golpeaba desmañadamente las rejas con un palo y lo miraba. Pero nunca le había picado excesivamente la curiosidad. Cuando una cosa es tuya parece perder su interés; sólo cuando no es tuya lo tiene.

En cualquier caso, ¿qué tienen de interesante unas cuantas hectáreas de árboles? Con toda seguridad, será un lugar oscuro, sesgado por los rayos del sol, y tendrá un montón de ardillas y pájaros, un húmedo colchón de hojas y las demás cosas, igualmente familiares, aunque no tan agradables, como arañas, zarzas y gusanos.

Sin embargo, eran las vacas, a fin de cuentas, las responsables del aislamiento del bosque y las que, con una sabiduría que ignoraban poseer, demostraron ser muy listas. De haber pasado a través del bosque en lugar de rodearlo, la gente habría seguido su recorrido. La gente se habría fijado en el fresno gigante que había en el centro del bosque y, luego, en su momento, en el pequeño manantial que brotaba por entre las raíces, pese a las piedras que lo disimulaban. Y eso habría sido un desastre tan enorme que esta vieja y gastada Tierra, sea o no sea propiedad de alguien hasta su centro, habría temblado en su eje, como un escarabajo en una hoja.

2

Así, al amanecer de aquel día de la primera semana de agosto, Mae Tuck se despertó y permaneció un rato en la cama observando las telarañas del techo. Por fin dijo, alzando la voz:

—¡Mañana estarán los chicos en casa!

El esposo de Mae, tumbado boca arriba a su lado, ni se inmutó. Continuó durmiendo. Las arrugas de melancolía que le surcaban el rostro durante el día se habían suavizado y se veían relajadas. Emitió un suave ronquido y, por un momento, los sesgos de los labios se le curvaron en una sonrisa. Tuck no sonreía casi nunca, salvo durante el sueño.

Mae se incorporó en la cama y lo contempló con indulgencia:

—Mañana estarán los chicos en casa —repitió, un poquitín más fuerte.

Tuck se sacudió, desvaneciéndose la sonrisa. Abrió los ojos.

—¿Por

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