Across Five Aprils

“Don’t expect peace to be a perfect pearl”.

Across Five Aprils is about the coming of age of a young boy named Jethro during the chaotic American Civil War.

Characters. Some favorite characters of mine are Shadrach and of course the lead character Jethro Creighton. I fell in love with Shadrach because he was so poetic, and also because he respects education so much – of course he’s a schoolmaster so what do you expect?

If you don’t want spoilers, then I promise I’ll try the best I can to not give you any specific hints regarding the whole storyline. That would be quite difficult anyway, because as the title suggests, the story runs for five years. In all fairness, the story proved very difficult for me to read at first.

The American Civil War. First, I’m a Filipina, so even if I should know just a little about the American Civil War, I’m so sorry I don’t. I admit, I must read and study more about it but I still have a looong way to go with regards to my own country’s history, so it’s really not a priority. That’s why this book is so perfect to me in so many ways, because it not only entertained me, touched my emotions, and let me fell in love with it, but it educated me as well! I didn’t know a thing or two about the American Civil War, but because of this book, I’ve learned a huge chunk of important history – through a young boy’s eyes.

Yes, the book’s a creative part fiction, part non-fiction. It’s a Newbery Honor Book as well. How did I come across this book? It wasn’t required, that’s for sure. I just found it myself. I read somewhere that missing reading the works of Irene Hunt is a big loss so I added her up to my never ending reading list. Not to mention that I’m also thinking of adding all the Newbery Honor Books as well.

We can’t read everything we want right? We can never have enough time, but we could try choosing the ones worth reading.