Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What words and images come to mind to describe rural life in the late 1800s? What might have been the role of children during this time? What was their daily life like?

Teaching Suggestion: Tuck Everlasting takes place in rural Massachusetts in 1880 when Winnie Foster encounters the Tuck family while exploring the woods outside her house. It may be helpful to use the questions to access prior knowledge about the 1800s and share the words and images on the board or a common display. These and similar resources might be helpful in exploring life during this time.

• This article describes rural life in the late 19th century.
• This article explains what life was like for a child in the 19th century.  

Short Activity

Use descriptive words from the novel to make predictions about the Tuck and Foster families. Create a T-chart and compare the families by placing the words with the correct families and describe what you believe those words indicate about the family.