Other editions of book Across Five Aprils

[Children's Fiction (Ages 8-12)] [Read by Terry Bregy] Author Irene Hunt, who won the Newbery Medal for her novel Up a Road Slowly, went to live at her grandfather's farm in Illinois after her father's death in 1914. Her grandfather's stories of his boyhood during the Civil War became the basis for this compelling novel, Across Five Aprils. Although young Jethro Creighton never witnessed a battle, his life on the family farm in southern Illinois was shattered by the Civil War. He was nine years old in 1861 and over the next five years, he would learn that war deeply affects lives well beyond its gruesome battlefields. Join with narrator Terry Bregy as he brings to life one boy's story -- how Jethro grows from a sensitive, carefree child to a man before his time, learning to face each day with courage and finally, hope. Awards for Irene Hunt: Across Five Aprils was named a Newbery Honor book in 1965, received the Charles W. Follett Award in 1964, and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1966.

Back of book reads: In April, 1861, young Jethro Creighton heard the talk of war, but didn't understand what war meant. By the second April, he had seen his brothers go off to fight- two for the North, one for the South. Still but a boy, he had to take on a man's job on the Illinois farm, where the work in the fields was made heavier by the hard news of battles lost and men slain. By the fifth April, 1865, Jethro had experienced all the heartaches of a family, a state, a nation, in the the agony of a war pitting brother against brother, friend against friend. He saw peace come, its joy marred by Lincoln's tragic death. And he left his boyhood behind. Across the pages of this memorable book move the great figures of the war: Lincoln and Grant, Sherman and Lee. Here too are the humble people of North and South who bore the brunt of the terrible conflict. Across Five Aprils is a truly powerful chronicle of a crucial period in our country's history.