Do You like book Across Five Aprils (2002)?
4.5 would be a more appropriate rating. This was a great story about the Civil War and would be especially good for fifth graders studying American history. Although it never takes us to any actual battlegrounds, we still get a really good overview of some of the battles, the strategies, and the the North's command woes. Young Jethro, the main character, studies them in the newspapers and the letters home from the soldiers in his family give us the rest of the information. One thing I especially liked about this book is that it is really good about not condescending to a child's level. It is written from a child's perspective and will certainly hold children's interest but, as the book itself points out, even children experienced the effects of war. They could not be entirely screened from its tragedies. I also enjoy the interaction of the characters in the story. You can really tell how much Jethro and his family love each other, despite the difficulties they sometimes create for each other. Jethro grows himself a lot over the course of the book as he is called upon to face some very difficult physical, emotional, and even moral challenges. It is wonderful to watch his growth as he works through each obstacle. My only issue with the ending is this: what became of Bill?All in all, this was a great book and was a wonderful distraction to listen to while packing, cleaning, and moving classrooms.
—Erin
Across Five Aprils By Irene Hunt is a novel that incorporates too much detail and is ignorant at the development of the plot. Although I praise its vivid descriptions of characters and as well as the setting, the book does not emphasize enough on the actual story. For example, Hunt writes close to two pages describing the dinner table. By the time these two pages were read, I was completely stultified that I had no interest in reading further into the plot. I believe that the over-descriptiveness of the story makes it monotonous. In addition, Across Five Aprils fails to develop the story fast enough for the audience to keep interest in the novel. After reading five chapters of the book, I felt that it already took the life out of its interesting main topic of the Civil War. The novel bounces from one event to another, creating no overall storyline to follow. Finally, it fails to satisfy the action-packed cover of the novel. "Don't judge a book by its cover" truly describes this book. Whence, Across Five Aprils is a novel that has no central topic and it includes excess descriptions of the characters and setting. This is not a book I would recommend and The New York Times was definitely misled when calling it, "...An intriguing... book, a prize to those who take the time to read it..."
—Eni Byambadorj
I am reading this with a book with a group of 6th graders, and so far they do not appreciate this excellent book. My high school English teacher always said to give classic literature a good 50 pages before giving up, and I think/hope they will be hooked by then. I last read it in junior high - I remember liking it, but as an adult I loved it. It is beautifully written, with wonderfully well developed characters. I laughed and I cried with the experiences of a very genuine family and the impact of the Civil War in their lives. I've been to many Civil War battlefields and I've seen the movie Gettysburg several times (it's 4 hours long, so that is saying something!), so I am familiar with the names of many of the generals and battles in the book. It covers the length of the war, so there are a lot of generals and battles to have to keep track of, which will probably bog down story for the kids I am reading it with. Overall though it is an outstanding piece of children's literature and definitely worth reading.
—Cathy
