In the book Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, the main character, Winnie, is eleven years old. When the movie version of Tuck Everlasting was created, her age was raised to fifteen. While this is not necessarily better for the book, it is better for the movie because the movie focuses more on the budding romance between Winnie and Jesse, who is forever seventeen. Keeping the age of Winnie at eleven would be inappropriate in American culture for a love story with a seventeen year old.

The original age of eleven is better suited to the book though because the focus is not as heavily on the romantic relationship, but on the contrast that comes from the fact that Winnie is young and will get older and change as opposed to the Tucks' state of being stuck in time. Mae Tuck even comments at one point in the book about how nice it was to have a child still growing in their house. Having Winnie portrayed as a teenager instead of a child would also change the thought processes surrounding the spring and her decision to drink or not drink from the spring.