Books with author Irene Hunt

Irene Hunt was born in Pontiac, Illinois, in 1907, Irene Hunt spent her childhood on a farm that had been in her family for generations. After her father's death in 1914, young Irene and her mother went to live with her grandparents. She was very close to her grandfather, who often told her stories of his childhood during the Civil War. After college and graduate school, Hunt spent the greater part of her adult life teaching in public schools in Illinois. It was during this time that she realized the need for good historical fiction of young adults. Her own family history provided much of the material for her novel, Across Five Aprils, which was published when she was 57 years old. Hunt died on May 18, 2001 her ninety-fourth birthday.

Cover art by Tom Caslwell Georgie Burgess has known only neglect and abuse during his seven and a half years of life. His alcoholic mother does little to prevent the bruises and scars inflicted on Georgie by her brutal boyfriend. With each blow, the little boy withdraws further into his dreams. When he winds a small rose bush in a lottery, it seems as if one of his dreams has finally come true. But after a particularly savage beating, he is taken from his mother and placed in a home for boys. Surrounded by strangers and with the rosebush as his only link to the world, both the boy and his treasured plant must learn how to grow and thrive.