Natalie Babbitt

Natalie Zane Babbitt, born Natalie Moore on July 28, 1932, in Dayton, Ohio, was an American writer and illustrator of children’s books. She came of age in the middle decades of the twentieth century and studied at Laurel School in Cleveland, then at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Her work would become part of the reading lives of many children, parents, and teachers, especially through stories that treated young readers as capable of thinking seriously about life, change, aging, and death.

Babbitt’s first published children’s book grew out of a family collaboration. The Forty-ninth Magician, published by Pantheon Books in 1966, was written by her husband, Samuel Fisher Babbitt, and illustrated by Natalie. When Samuel became too busy to continue, editor Michael di Capua at Farrar, Straus, and Giroux encouraged her to keep making children’s books. She wrote and illustrated two short books in verse, then turned to children’s novels. Her fourth novel in that form, Knee-Knock Rise, received a Newbery Honor in 1971.

She is best known for Tuck Everlasting, published in 1975. The novel was named an ALA Notable book and remained popular with teachers. In a 2012 survey published by School Library Journal, it ranked 16th among the “Top 100 Chapter Books” of all time. The book reached audiences beyond the page as well: it was adapted into feature films in 1981 and 2002, and later into a Broadway musical. The musical premiered in Atlanta on February 4, 2015, and played on Broadway from April 26 to May 29, 2016.

Babbitt’s career also included other books and illustration work. Goody Hall, published in 1971, made her a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award. She illustrated a number of books by Valerie Worth. Her book The Eyes of the Amaryllis was adapted as a movie in 1982. That same year, Babbitt was the United States nominee for the biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award. She also received the Christopher Award, and in 2012 the American Academy of Arts and Letters gave her the first E. B. White Award for achievement in children’s literature.

Reviewers often noted the seriousness and grace of her work. In 1977, The New York Times called her “indisputably one of our most gifted and ambitious writers for children.” In 2002, Melanie Rehak described Tuck Everlasting as a “slim, ruminative” novel, loved for its “honest, intelligent grappling with aging and death.” Babbitt died at her home in Hamden, Connecticut, on October 31, 2016, after a recent diagnosis of lung cancer. Her books remain close to readers because they ask large questions in clear language, with respect for a child’s intelligence and feeling.