Tuck Everlasting

The sixth graders started Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt.  On Friday we will take our first quiz over chapter 1 through 8.  So far about 90% of the reading has been completed in class.  The students were each assigned a copy of the novel to reread chapters in order to complete comprehension worksheets and study for the quiz.

Below is a list of the comprehension activities we have started in the first 8 chapters.


Chapters 1 & 2 ~ Personification to Create Imagery- worksheet page 7

Imagery consists of words and phrases that appeal to readers’ senses. Writers
use sensory details to help readers imagine how things look, feel, smell, sound, and
taste. In this chapter, Natalie Babbitt uses personification (giving human
emotions and qualities to nonhuman objects) to help her create imagery. Read the
following excerpts from chapters one and two and notice the imagery that is
created by the underlined personification.


Chapters 3 & 4 ~ Imagery worksheet- page 8

Throughout these chapters and the entire novel, Natalie Babbitt uses imagery to help
the readers feel like they are there. She describes the setting so that the reader has a
complete picture of what the place is like. Read the following two passages and underline
the words that allow you to “see” the setting.


Chapters 5 & 6 ~ Conflict, Onomatopoeia, Similes- worksheet page 9 
*Conflict – a struggle or clash between opposing characters or forces (external conflict) or
the character’s emotions (internal conflict)
*Onomatopoeia
When an author uses words to imitate the sound they represent, this is onomatopoeia.
Read the following sentence. Circle the example of onomatopoeia.
The melody faltered. Another few widely spaced notes plinked, and then it stopped.
*A simile is when two unlike things are compared using the words like or as.
After Winnie has been taken by the Tucks, she is calmed down by Mae’s music box.
…it was the same music she had heard the night before…it calmed her. It was like a
ribbon tying her to familiar things. (Page 35)

After Chapter 5 ~ Point of View- worksheet page 10

The point of view of a story makes all the difference in the world. If a character is telling the
story, the first person point of view is used. If none of the characters are telling the story,
and an unseen narrator is telling it, the third person point of view is being used. If the narrator
focuses on only one character, the limited third person point of view is used. If the narrator
allows the reader to know thoughts and feelings of one character, then another’s, then
another’s, the third person omniscient point of view is used.


Chapters 7 & 8 ~ Creating a Comic Strip- worksheet page 11

Go back and reread the passage that describes the Tuck’s discovery of the spring and their
realizing that it was peculiar (pages 37-41). Then, create a comic strip illustrating the events.
Use the boxes below to illustrate your comic strip. Pay attention to Babbitt’s imagery as you
draw each scene. You may use captions or dialogue.