Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt / Farrar, Straus, and Company, 1975
Here I’ve chosen the opening line from one of my favorite books and authors.
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.
You can feel this one, this lazy-hazy approach to storytelling. You connect to the truth of it, understand the atmosphere. The mood is set, giving us a distinct lyrical voice, one we can cozy into. The theme is introduced: the incongruity of time standing still and time advancing. Notice the use of the thematic word "live-long"—a brilliant choice for a tale about immortality. Despite its gentle way, however, the word choice and metaphor also create tension, a precariousness you know will tip. The wheel must drop from its stop-breath moment, and the pivotal questions are: When, how quickly, and which way? Or, to be precise to the plot: What’s going to happen this first week of August?
The line itself is timeless.
cover art by Natalie Babbitt
Here I’ve chosen the opening line from one of my favorite books and authors.
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.
You can feel this one, this lazy-hazy approach to storytelling. You connect to the truth of it, understand the atmosphere. The mood is set, giving us a distinct lyrical voice, one we can cozy into. The theme is introduced: the incongruity of time standing still and time advancing. Notice the use of the thematic word "live-long"—a brilliant choice for a tale about immortality. Despite its gentle way, however, the word choice and metaphor also create tension, a precariousness you know will tip. The wheel must drop from its stop-breath moment, and the pivotal questions are: When, how quickly, and which way? Or, to be precise to the plot: What’s going to happen this first week of August?
The line itself is timeless.
cover art by Natalie Babbitt
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