"Tuck Everlasting," Book and Movie Comparison

I thoroughly enjoyed the book “Tuck Everlasting” by Natalie Babbitt.  I had never seen the movie before and was very nervous about how Disney would portray the story.  I ended up loving the movie almost as much as the book!  There were quite a few differences between the movie and the book, but both included all of the primary plot points. 

The movie opens with Jesse riding a motorcycle up to where Winnie Foster once lived.  The book begins with Mae and Tuck talking about how their boys will be coming home soon.  The foreshadowing of Jesse coming back to Treegap in the movie was added for dramatic effect.  In the book it is Tuck and Mae who come back to Treegap to notice that Winnie had passed away, but in the movie, it was Jesse who came back for her.  Being the helpless romantic that I am, I enjoyed the twist that the movie put on the book in having Jesse come back for Winnie. 

One of the stark differences between the book and the movie is how long it took the Tuck’s to reveal their secret of not aging.  In the book, the author alludes to this secret from the second chapter.  The Tucks also tell Winnie what is going on the first night that she is with them.  In the movie, Jesse does not reveal the secret to Winnie for what seems like many days.  Overall, Winnie seemed to stay at the Tuck’s in the movie for quite a bit longer than she did in the book.

The movie also played up the romance between Winnie and Jesse in many ways.  In the book, Winnie and Jesse did not spend quite as much time alone together as they did in the movie.   In the book, Jesse did ask Winnie to drink the water when she was 17 and marry him, but they didn’t have as much of a romance as they did in the movie. 

The book and movie also differed because Mae Tuck was the only one put in jail in the book.  Both she and Mr. Tuck were put in jail in the movie.  In the book, Winnie had to take the place of Mae in order to protect her.  In the movie, Winnie just ran into the jail and distracted the jailer to get Mae and Mr. Tuck out.  I thought that the book had a more powerful message in having Winnie take Mae’s place.  The scene showed how much the Tucks meant to Winnie and how much she was willing to risk for them.

            Overall, both portrayals of the story were powerful and captivating.  I prefer the story in the book over the movie, just because the book gave me more of an insight into the emotions that Winnie was experiencing through her journey with the Tucks.