BABBITT, Natalie
Natalie Zane Moore, Natalie Babbitt
28 July 1932 – 31 October 2016
Birthplace: Dayton, Ohio
American author & illustrator
Extended excerpt [Essay contribution to a collection honoring the Reading is Fundamental (RIF) program]:
“With books, your inner world has no walls. And in reading – and writing – stories, you can be many different people in many different places, doing things you would never have a chance to do in ordinary life. It's amazing that those twenty-six little marks of the alphabet can arrange themselves on the pages of a book and accomplish all that. Readers are lucky – they will never be bored or lonely.” (p. 45)
Source: Library – Once Upon A Time… (1986) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 03-992-13694
Misattributed to Natalie Babbitt –
“Don't be afraid of death…be afraid of an unlived life. You don't have to live forever, you just have to live.”
~Jeffrey Lieber & James V. Hart, American screenwriters
Tuck Everlasting (2002) Film adaptation of 1975 book Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt; Walt Disney Pictures, Director Jay Russell; line spoken by actor William Hurt in role of ‘Angus Tuck'; film preview online via Movieclips Classic Trailers & YouTube, www.youtube.com
Misattibution notes:
Although the Jeffrey Lieber & James V. Hart screenplay is based closely on author Natalie Babbitt's original version of Tuck Everlasting, Babbitt's 1975 book does not include the line cited here. Lieber & Hart should be attributed as the quote authors.
Extended excerpt [Screenplay dialogue. Character ‘Angus Tuck' to ‘Winnie Foster.']:
“Don't be afraid of death, Winnie, be afraid of an unlived life.”
Source note: Cited line is spoken at approximately 1:40 minutes in the Tuck Everlasting official film preview. Please see ‘Source Link' tab for video link.
Source link: “Tuck Everlasting (2002) Official Trailer #1” (2002) Disney movie preview; online via Movieclips Classic Trailers & YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXbbAbDvifw
Resources
Learn more about Natalie Babbitt | Here are a few good places to start –
- ‘Natalie Babbitt'|Scholastic Books – Publisher's author page, with a brief life overview from Babbitt: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/authors/natalie-babbitt/
- ‘Natalie Babbitt reads from her modern classic “Tuck Everlasting‘ – Undated video of Babbitt reading from her best-seller, Tuck Everlasting (published 1975); online via ‘good conversations,' posted 24 October 2012, YouTube (video 2:23 minutes) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvbyE43gkG8
- ‘Natalie Babbitt Interview Transcript‘ (no date) Scholastic – Babbitt discusses writing and responds to student questions: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/natalie-babbitt-interview-transcript
- “The Gift of Eternal Shelf Life” Tuck Everlasting Turns 40”| NPR interview with Melissa Block – audio (5:07 minutes) & transcript via NPR: http://www.npr.org/2015/01/29/382383351/the-gift-of-eternal-shelf-life-tuck-everlasting-turns-40
- ‘Natalie Babbitt: Bookfest 01' (08 September 2001) Library of Congress webcast of Babbitt speaking on stage (video: 30 minutes); via Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=3421
- ‘Tuck Everlasting (2002) Official Trailer #1' – Walt Disney trailer for the 2002 motion picture adaptation of Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting (video – 2:25 minutes) Movieclips Trailer Vault, via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXbbAbDvifw
- ‘Natalie Babbitt, 84, Dies; Took on Immortality in ‘Tuck Everlasting'' (1 November 2016) The New York Times obituary by Sam Roberts: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/02/books/natalie-babbitt-died-tuck-everlasting.html
- ‘Obituary: Natalie Babbitt' (1 November 2016) publishers Weekly obituary by Shannon Maughan: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/71908-obituary-natalie-babbitt.html
- Image link: BABBITT, Natalie (Placeholder image only – Image does not represent Natalie Babbitt or her works. No CC/public domain/'right size' image of Babbitt located.) Photo by Robert Crouse-Baker (19 July 2013) “A gift from G_d,” Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0); via Robert Crouse-Baker, Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29233640@N07/9326305950/
