Natalie Babbitt Biography

Natalie Babbitt – American author and illustrator 1932-2016

With Tuck Everlasting (1975), Natalie Bab­bitt created an enduring classic of American children’s literature. The thought-provoking story of ten-year-old Winnie Foster, who discov­ers a fountain of youth, raises profound ques­tions of morality and immortality. Winnie learns of the magical effects of a spring hidden in the woods on her family’s property when she discovers Jesse Tuck, an eternal seventeen-year- old, drinking from it. As she encounters the rest of the Tucks — a gentle pioneering family who haven’t aged since drinking from the spring more than eighty years before — she comes to understand the complex combination of bless­ings and curses their secret holds.

Angus Tuck, the father, provides strength to his family, though he has grown tired of their eternal existence; Mae, the mother, is accept­ing and wise; Miles, the older brother who had once married, is full of sorrow from having left his wife and children, who aged while he re­mained unchanged. Only young Jesse, hand­some and lively, revels in what he believes is a gift.

A suspenseful interplay comes with the fore­boding presence of the villainous “man in the yellow suit,” a shady, opportunistic fellow who intends to profit from the power of the spring. The momentum increases when Mae Tuck inad­vertently kills this man and faces a death sen­tence; since she cannot die, this would make their secret public, opening the spring to exploi­tation. Winnie, showing her inner strength and resourcefulness, chooses to help the Tucks es­cape, thereby keeping the spring secret; Before the Tucks set off to continue their endless roam­ing, Jesse leaves Winnie a tempting bottle of the spring water, encouraging her to wait to drink it until she is seventeen and then to come find them.

Natalie Babbitt successfully paralleled events in the text with symbolic use of weather to create ten­sion. The writing is economical, straightfor­ward, and unassuming, like the Tucks, yet the re­sult is a mysterious, subtle evocation of emotion for this family and their fate. Here, as in most of Babbitt’s fiction, sophisticated ideas are pre­sented with simplicity. Never doubting that her concepts are within the grasp of children, Bab­bitt has never succumbed to didacticism or con­descension.

While some adults have objected to what they consider the unnecessary death of the man in the yellow suit, most young readers focus on Winnie’s ultimate decision not to drink from the spring. Her choice is revealed when, many years later, the Tucks again pass through Winnie’s town, Treegap, and find a tombstone that reads: “In Loving Memory I Winifred Foster Jackson / Dear Wife I Dear Mother /1870-1948.” Pa Tuck is moved. “Good girl,” he says.

Much of Natalie Babbitt’s work displays a unique combination of folklore, fairy tale, myth, and legend, as in the allegorical tale The Search for Delicious (1969). To settle a disagreement among members of the court, a twelve-year-old prime minister’s assistant, Gaylen, is sent out to poll the kingdom on the correct definition of the word delicious. From its beginnings in folly, the quest develops into a dangerous and politically significant mission. Exposed to a great variety of opinions, and to eccentric characters and super­natural beings such as the worldweller (a tree dweller), a group of dwarfs, and a mermaid, Gaylen is finally faced with the unexpected chal­lenge of saving the kingdom. The main charac­ter evolves believably through his mythical quest, and the fanciful, satirical tale is distinguished by Babbitt’s lyrical writing, as well as its adventures and humor.

Natalie Babbitt in her own words

I became a writer more or less by accident. It was certainly not part of my plan, a plan quite set­tled when I was nine. That year, my mother sent away for a very nice edition of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and I felt in-love at once with John Tenniel’s pictures because they were beauti­ful and funny both at once. I was used to pictures that were beautiful and sweet, or cartooned and funny, but this was a new combination. It made a deep impression on me. I had already decided to be an artist, and now, thanks to Tenniel, I knew what sort of artist: I would be an illustrator of chil­dren’s books, and I would draw funny, beautiful pictures in pen and ink.

In this country we believe it is our right to choose the kind of seeds we will plant in the gar­dens of our lives — a cloying metaphor, but usesul¹. We have the tight to choose the seeds, but whether or not they will flourish depends on a lot of things beyond our control: weather conditions, the chemistry of the soil, and whether or not the head gardeners are vigilant. I was lucky. The soil and the weather were adequate, and the head gardeners, my mother and father, were not only vigilant, they were also good role models. My mother was a beautiful; though nonprofessional, artist, and my father was funny.

I don’t know how common it is to decide on a future career in the fourth grade and then to stick firmly to that decision and bring it to fruition nearly a quarter of a century later. Most of the people I know changed their minds a number of times while they were growing up. But for me it seemed reasonable, by the age of nine; to settle the question. I had wanted; as a preschooler, to be a pirate, and then, in second grade, to be a librar­ian. I might have made a pretty good librarian, but With my distaste for heavy exercise, I would probably have made a poor pirate. No matter; an illustrator I soon decided to be, and an illustrator I have, in part, become.

I chose to plant that particular seed in my gar­den, but my mother planted a few of her own choosing, and if is from these, I guess, that the writing part came. For she read aloud to my sister and me for years, thereby creating a love for sto­ries and reading. My father planted a seed, top; though I know he didn’t do so on purpose: he loved the language and used it in the most inven­tive and hilarious ways, thereby creating in me an ear for words. Plagued as we were by the 1930s Depression, there were many things we didn’t have. Looking back, I know now that we had all the things that really matter.

When my first illustrations were published; to accompany a story written by my husband, it felt natural and preordained. But then my husband had Other fish to fry, and I had to try to create my Own stories. This felt decidedly unnatural. Nothing in my growing up,it seemed, had prepared me to be a professional writer. But now I see that we ail have stories to tell and we all use words every day of our lives. And if we have also grown up with books, there’s no reason why a writing career shouldn’t be possible; assuming we have a taste for the life. The writing I’ve done — though it’s certainly been hard work — has seemed pretty simple. There’s always one best word; if you listen for it, and there are always a few ideas about Which you feel passionate enough to turn them into stories.. Writing is a left-brain exercise, and in­sofar as ideas come from the subconscious, can even be seen as a kind of therapy. But picture­-making is a right-brain exercise. To me it is myste­rious, and I have no idea at all how it can happen; even though I’ve been doing it all my life.

Watching my preschool grandson at work with crayons, I am awestruck to see how, one day, he suddenly does not merely scribble but makes a creature with legs and neck and one large eye. Something has all at once clicked into place in his brain, and a message, sent down to his little hand; has told him how to draw

All this is not a value judgment on my pant about pictures as opposed to stories. I would always rather read a book than visit an art museum. And a picture book with a bad story is a bad pic­ture book, no matter how beautiful the pictures may be. Still, picture-making is a kind of kinetic marvel, poorly understood — and poorly under­stood marvels are for me the most interesting things in life.

Another beautifully written allegory is Knee­-Knock Rise (1970), a Newbery Honor Book. This story about man’s desire to believe in the myste­rious is a delightfully entertaining fable of a town’s fear of the Megrimum, a mythical crea­ture that resides on the top of a neighboring mountain. A boy, Egan, who is visiting his re­latives one day, ventures to seek out the Megrimum and discovers, of course, that there is no such beast. The book’s philosophy is con­veyed through Egan’s itinerant Uncle Ott, who postulates: “Is it better to be wise if it makes you solemn and practical, Or is it better to be foolish so you can go on enjoying yourself?”

Though Babbitt’s wit is evident in all her sto­ries, nowhere is it more prevalent or immediate than in her collections of short stories about the devil as he attempts to stir up trouble on earth and to increase the population of his southern realm. The Devil’s Storybook (1974) and The Devil’s Other Storybook (1987) feature a devil who is less evil and daunting than he is merely mischievous and cantankerous. His plans are of­ten thwarted, and he is frequently outsmarted; the result is folktale-like stories riddled with comical error and whimsy.

Most of Natalie Babbitt’s works are complemented by her own expressive pen and ink drawings. Her original intention was to become an il­lustrator, and to that end she studied art at the Laurel School in Cleveland and at Smith College. Her first book, The Forty-Ninth Ma­gician, was written by her husband, Samuel Fisher Babbitt, and published in 1966. Natalie Babbitt also provided the simple but elegant drawings for several collections of short poems written by Valerie Worth. Babbitt began writing primar­ily to have stories to illustrate. With the publi­cation of the picture books Nellie: A Cat on Her Own (1989) and Bub: Or the Very Best Thing (1994)? she came full circle as an illustrator, providing full-color illustrations for her own texts.

Other notable works include Doody Hall (1971), a period piece with gothic elements, about young Willet Goody, the heir to the great mansion Goody Hall, who, with the help of his new tutor, Hercules Feltwright, uncovers the mystery of his father’s disappearance; and The Byes of the Amaryllis (1977), a fantasy involving ; a young girl, Jenny, who visits her grandmother and learns of her romantic and potentially dan­gerous enchantment with the sea. Babbitt’s work is known for its haunting,’ ethereal quality as well as its clear, poetic writing. Her stories are infused with ideas from myth, folklore, and legend, and though the concepts they contain are far from simple, they are accessible to young readers while still intriguing to adults. Each is an insightful, wise offering a timeless body of work.

E. K. E.

Source: Children’s Books and their Creators, Anita Silvey.

Natalie Babbitt’s Works

• Dick Foote and the Shark (1967)
• Phoebe’s Revolt (1968)
• The Search for Delicious (1969)
• Knee-Knock Rise (1970 )
• The Something (1970)
• Goody Hall (1971)
• The Devil’s Storybook (1974)
• Tuck Everlasting (1975)
• The Eyes of the Amaryllis (1977)
• Herbert Rowbarge (1982)
• The Devil’s Other Storybook (1987)
• Nellie: A Cat on Her Own (1989)
• The Big Book for Peace (E. P. Dutton, 1990)
• Bub: Or the Very Best Thing (1994)
• Ouch!: A Tale from Grimm (1998)
• Elsie Times Eight (2001)
• Jack Plank Tells Tales (2007)
• The Moon Over High Street (2011)
• The Devil’s Storybooks – omnibus edition of The Devil’s Storybook and The Devil’s Other Storybook (2012)
• Barking with the Big Dogs: On Writing and Reading Books for Children (2018)