Rating: 
Summary: More going on than historical fiction
Review: As an English teacher, Across Five Aprils is the first text to which I introduce my 9th CP classes. Not only is it a story with sympathetic characters and a primarily-balanced views of the opposing opinions about the Civil War, but Irene Hunt has worked in descriptive passages that do more than describe. Many of the descriptive passages are symbolic, the symbols either referring to time-honored meanings (farm = green = growth,life; red = blood of sacrifice, the soldiers who sacrifice themselves for their cause of freedom for all) or Amer.History meanings (the silver poplars = silver = grey of Confederacy). Such underlying symbols are the sign of a good author, not action and adventure. Finally, as we learned during the late '60s and early '70s, the events on the "home front" are as important to the "war effort" as the events on the battle line. Hunt does an excellent job presenting the "war" on the home front.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but boring in places
Review: I read Across Five Aprils only because it was on my summer reading list (entering seventh grade). The subject matter is not something I am usually drawn towards, but as American history dominates my seventh grade year, many books about war ended up on the list. Across Five Aprils is about the Creighton family, a typical family living on a farm in southern Illinois during the turbulent years of the American Civil War. The story opens on the days immeaditly before the outbreak of war. Jethro Creighton, then only nine years old, is very confused. He doesn't know what to expect of war, and he is very unprepared for what happens to his family in the next five years. Torn apart by war, Jethro must deal with all the problems a man faces during a time of war, as well as his own, internal problems. This book has a good mix of historical events and ficitional scenes. Many of the battles that took place are described in letters to Jethro and his family, coming from his brothers at war. It is written in rural dialect, as this family would have spoken back in the 1860's, which is at times quite hard to understand. Though I did enjoy the book, I would reccomend it solely to those people who have a great interest in this time period.
Rating: 
Summary: DON'T
Review: Hi i read this book because it was on my summer reading for school. This was the worst book I've ever read in my whole life. If you dont have to read this then dont you will hate it. Everything from the authors wrriting to the plot was horable This was the worst most horable book EVER
Rating:
Summary: Great historical novel ends with a fizzle
Review: I read Across Five Aprils along with my own son and the 8th graders I teach as part of a unit on the Civil War. Ms. Hunt does a wonderful job of drawing her characters, particularly Jethro Creighton. Jethro and his family, farming in southern Illinois, find that even though they are not in the midst of the battlefields, their lives are nonetheless swept up in the events of this tragic period in our history. Jethro's growth and understanding of the sweep of history as well as of himself are well-detailed. Well they might be, as Ms. Hunt crafted this story from family stories of her great-grandfather, who was the young protagonist, making this novel something between historical fiction and family lore. She deftly weaves the family events with historic fact, adding faces to the stories in the history texts. As a midwestern gal myself, I found the perspective of a family from that part of the country to be very interesting. Many other similar works make their settings much closer to the historical action, and it is this unique setting that allows the reader to understand just how all-encompassing the Civil War was for the whole country. I found the last few chapters to be disappointing, as she seemed to want to rush to the end of the war and hence her story. The writing took on a feeling of newspaper reports of battles, with very little of the narrative from the Creighton family viewpoint that made the book so engrossing. As a teacher, I feel that the authentic dialect that was used in the dialogue might make for somewhat difficult reading for many kids who struggle with involved text. Nonetheless, a book such as Across Five Aprils makes for a much more interesting and meaningful study of the Civil War than the dry texts we read and forgot.
Rating: 
Summary: Across Five Aprils
Review: Across Five Aprils is more than a story about a boy during the Civil War. It is the telling of how one family struggled and survived many difficulties suffered during a period of great turmoil in our nation's history. It is the story of how Jethro Creighton is forced to grow up quickly to become the sole source of food and shelter for his family, his brother's family and himself. It is an accurate historical account of the war as seen through the eyes of a child. I have read other reviews that describe the book as boring, unlikable and primitive. Anyone who has a negative comment about Across Five Aprils doesn't get it. They never will. This is a wonderful book that all children from ages 10 through 16 should be required to read.
Rating:
Summary: Across Five Aprils-not highly recommended
Review: Across Five Aprils is not the wonderful book people claim it is. The launguage is crude, hard to understand and makes a mockery of the North in the Civil War era. It follows Jethro, an unlikable farm boy and his primtive thoughts about the Civil war.
Rating:
Summary: Across Five Aprils
Review: This book is about a family that is separated by the American Civil War. It takes place at the farm that the family owns. I think this book is a good book and I would read it over again.
Rating:
Summary: Across Five Aprils Review
Review: My review is over Across Five Aprils. It is about a kid and his family during the Civil War. They have many heart-lifting moments. I sometimes found myself laughing outloud and cheering right along with them. If you get this book you will find yourself laughing and almost crying during certain parts of the story. You wil feel as if you are part of the family. During the book Jethro goes to town for the first time, finds out what war really is, and finds himself stuck with nothing but his thoughts to guide him through hi troubles. I find that anybody who likes the Civil War and like books that make you feel as if you're right there shdowing somebody you wo't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: powerful book...weak at the end
Review: one of the best novels i've yet read on the civil war, and it really does an excellent job of personalizing war, and showing how this war in particular affected a vulnerable american family. the main character is sympathetic, as are his parents and brothers and sister, and their relationships are touching and believable. the interactions with the townfolk are powerful as well, and this book gives a real slice of life into a time and place that just doesn't exist anymore. i wasn't surprised when the author wrote that her inspiration for the novel came almost directly from stories her grandfather told of his actual experiences as a boy who lived during the civil war - this book was too personal, too detailed, too heartfelt, and too simply real to just have been "made up" from her imagination...it just had that ring of truth that made it special. book's major weakness: i felt that in the last quarter of the book or so the author just lost her feel for the characters, or perhaps herself just wanted to finish the book. it started turning into a history lesson. the first three-quarters were wonderful because she DIDN'T do just that, and really let the lives of the characters carry the book and let the battles and history be the backdrop. that last quarter, though, god, it just got dull. sometimes for pages on end there was nothing about a single LIVING character in the book, and just paragraph after paragraph about lincoln and this general and that general and supply lines and politics. it was like...SHUT UP, I WANT TO READ A NOVEL, NOT A TEXTBOOK! that said, i'd still recommend the book highly. it's one of those books that puts a real human feel on a war, and thereby gives me a point of reference when i hear or read further on the civil war. (also, it made me cry a few times, and any book that does that earns some strong points...)
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book
Review: My brother gave me a copy of this book and told me I would enjoy it. He was certainly right. This book was especially interesting to me because it is set in rural Southern Illinois, about fifty miles from where I grew up. The characters in this book all seem to come to life with the authors words. The reader will find himself putting himself in the position of one or more of the characters in the book. A young boy suddenly finds himself making the decisions and performing the duties of a full grown man. As was so common in this war, brothers find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. This is a wonderful story of how the Civil War touched the lives of a family. This is a book I could not put down.
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