Reviews for Across Five Aprils

The average rating for Across Five Aprils based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-08-22 00:00:00 Terrie Phillips Do they make kid's books like this sort anymore? Real and real painful. Across Five Aprils was required reading in 6th grade and it was as if the teacher's were saying "Life's a bitch, get used to it." I remember this as eloquently rendered and high-minded, gut-wrenching drama when I read it way back then. Mind you, I also thought TV's The Waltons was the height of drama, so maybe my opinion is a bit skewed on the subject. Just the same, Across Five Aprils, the story of brothers torn apart by the America Civil War, did win the Newbery, so it must've been doing something right. The story is told from the perspective of the youngest son watching his older brothers go off to war. Like the town they live in, most are pro-Union, but one of them sides with the Confederacy, and so he and the family suffer. It's a large family with daughters embroiled in their own private war of romance and love held in check. I recall the ending feeling a bit slapped on for happiness sake and that a happy ending that made sense in the context of the story to that point would've felt more natural, if a happy ending must happen that is. Perhaps Hunt or her publisher felt like they'd beaten up the psyche of us kids enough to that point.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-06-15 00:00:00 Clay Poupart TERRIBLE BOOK. that is all I have to say. This is about the Civil War and how the main character Jethro is coming of age. This book was so boring that I do not have anything more to say. Do not read it. If you are interested in the Civil War, maybe you should consider it because it gives you a lot of historical background information. Otherwise, it is veyr hard to keep reading this book.