Across Five Aprils

By Irene Hunt

Although a work of fiction, the accounts of battles and the historical background of the novel are derived from research, including family letters and records, as well as the stories told by the author’s grandfather, who was a boy at the time that the Civil War began. In an author’s note to the book, she speaks of her grandfather as having been a good storyteller, and suggests that much of Across Five Aprils was based on the stories told to her by her grandfather.

In the classroom, a work of fiction cannot take the place of a textbook study of the Civil War, but a well-written historical novel like Across Five Aprils can serve to complement history in such as way as to bring it alive.

Across Five Aprils is a beautifully written book. Read it for the story that it tells, and you won’t want to put it down until the story has ended.

If, like me, you are homeschooling, perhaps you’ll find the outlines, the study aids, and the exercises included in this site to be useful and perhaps even fun.