

Her first novel, Across Five Aprils, was a Newberry Award nominee and received a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. “Drawing from family records and from stories told by her grandfather, the author has, in an uncommonly fine narrative, created living characters and vividly reconstructed a crucial period of history.”- Booklist Praise for the Novels of Irene Hunt“A deeply affecting, affirmative story.”- Booklist“A powerfully moving story.”- Chicago Daily News“An intriguing and beautifully written book, a prize to those who take the time to read it, whatever their ages.”- The New York Times“This is a beautifully written book, filled with bloodshed, hate, and tears, but also with love, loyalty, and compassion, with unforgettable characters, and with ideas and implications that have meaning for young people today.”- Chicago Tribune Irene Hunt was the author of many distinguished books for young readers. As Jethro’s family is pulled into the conflict between the North and the South, loyalties are divided, dreams are threatened, and their bonds are put to the test in this heart-wrenching, coming of age story.

His brother, Tom, and his cousin, Eb, are both of fighting age. In 1861, America is on the cusp of war, and young Jethro Creighton is just nine-years-old. The Newbery Award-winning author of Up a Road Slowly presents the unforgettable story of Jethro Creighton-a brave boy who comes of age during the turbulent years of the Civil War.
