Across Five Aprils
Reading and Writing Workshop: Across Five Aprils tells the tale of the Creighton family, inspired by the author's own family. Centered on the Creighton farm in Jasper County, Illinois, the tale describes the experiences of youngest son Jethro and his family during the years of the Civil War.
Reading: Students may read independently or in groups while completing a Literary Thinking Guide. If a rapid reading is necessary, the book can be divided among the groups, and each group summarizes their section and then the groups present their sections sequentially.
Workshop Overview
This workshop uses small group reading, rotating roles, and sustained analytical and reflective writing to examine relationships among family and community.
Workshop Objectives
Students will
Key Literary Motifs to Track Throughout
SESSION 1
Setting, Historical Context, and the Loss of Innocence
Chapters 1–3
Literary Focus
Setting, point of view, tone, historical realism
Primary Text Focus
Jethro’s early understanding of the war and its impact on his family.
Key Novel Excerpt:
“Jethro was scared when he heard them talk like that. He was scared of the war.”
Primary Source Support (Public Domain)
Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address (1861)
National Archives transcript:
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/first-inaugural-address
Illinois Soldiers’ Letters, Civil War Era
Library of Congress collection:
https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war/about-this-collection/
Group Activity: War Comes Home
Groups examine excerpts from soldiers’ letters describing fear, uncertainty, or family separation. They then connect these emotions to Jethro’s early confusion and fear.
Discussion Focus
Groups write a paragraph analyzing how Hunt uses setting and point of view to introduce the war as a personal threat rather than a distant event, incorporating one idea from a primary source.
SESSION 2
Divided Loyalties and Moral Conflict
Chapters 4–7
Literary Focus
Characterization, internal conflict, theme
Primary Text Focus
The Creighton family’s divided allegiances, especially Bill’s decision to fight for the Confederacy.
Key Novel Excerpt:
“Bill didn’t see it as right or wrong. He saw it as home.”
Primary Source Support (Public Domain)
“A House Divided” Speech – Abraham Lincoln (1858)
National Park Service transcription:
https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/housedivided.htm
Civil War–Era Newspaper Editorials (Union and Confederate)
Library of Congress Chronicling America:
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
Group Activity: Loyalty Spectrum
Groups place characters from the novel along a spectrum from Union loyalty to Confederate sympathy, then compare this spectrum to opposing viewpoints in period newspapers.
Discussion Focus
Groups write an analytical paragraph explaining how Hunt uses characterization to show the complexity of loyalty during wartime, referencing one primary source.
SESSION 3
Violence, Justice, and the Cost of War
Chapters 8–11
Literary Focus
Tone, symbolism, realism, ethical questions
Primary Text Focus
The consequences of war violence and vigilante justice.
Key Novel Excerpt:
“Jethro wondered if being right could hurt so much.”
Primary Source Support (Public Domain)
The Lieber Code (Instructions for the Government of Armies, 1863)
Yale Law School Avalon Project:
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lieber.asp
Photographs by Mathew Brady (Civil War)
Library of Congress collection:
https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war-photographs/about-this-collection/
Group Activity: Law vs. Revenge
Groups analyze excerpts from the Lieber Code about wartime conduct and compare them with scenes of violence and retribution in the novel.
Discussion Focus
Groups write a paragraph analyzing how tone and realism convey the emotional cost of war, using both the novel and one primary source.
SESSION 4
Growth, Responsibility, and Moral Maturity
Chapters 12–14
Literary Focus
Coming-of-age narrative, characterization, theme
Primary Text Focus
Jethro assumes adult responsibilities and moral judgment.
Key Novel Excerpt:
“He was not a child anymore. He could not be.”
Primary Source Support (Public Domain)
Frederick Douglass, “Men of Color, To Arms!” (1863)
Library of Congress:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbaapc.00100/
Civil War–Era Farm Records and Diaries
Library of Congress American Memory:
https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
Group Activity: Responsibility and Voice
Groups examine how Douglass frames responsibility and moral action, then compare this rhetoric to Jethro’s quieter, internal growth.
Discussion Focus
Groups write a reflective analysis explaining how Jethro’s growth reflects broader social responsibility during wartime.
SESSION 5
Resolution, Memory, and the Meaning of Survival
Final Chapters
Literary Focus
Resolution, theme, reflective tone
Primary Text Focus
The war’s end and its lasting effects on family and community.
Key Novel Excerpt:
“The war was over, but it had marked them all.”
Primary Source Support (Public Domain)
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (1865)
National Archives:
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/second-inaugural-address
Civil War Pension Records
National Archives:
https://www.archives.gov/research/military/civil-war
Group Activity: After the War
Groups discuss how Lincoln’s call for “malice toward none” mirrors or contrasts with the emotional resolution of the novel.
Discussion Focus
Groups write a two-paragraph thematic analysis explaining how Across Five Aprils portrays survival as moral resilience rather than victory.
Final Group Synthesis Activity
“Five Aprils, Five Lessons”
Each group identifies one major lesson from each “April” of the novel. They present how historical context and literary craft work together to communicate that lesson, citing at least one primary source and one literary technique.
Conclusion
By the end of this workshop, students will understand Across Five Aprils as a powerful work of historical fiction that transforms national conflict into personal moral growth. Through collaborative reading, primary source analysis, and reflective writing, students engage deeply with literary structure, ethical complexity, and historical reality.
Reading: Students may read independently or in groups while completing a Literary Thinking Guide. If a rapid reading is necessary, the book can be divided among the groups, and each group summarizes their section and then the groups present their sections sequentially.
Workshop Overview
This workshop uses small group reading, rotating roles, and sustained analytical and reflective writing to examine relationships among family and community.
Workshop Objectives
Students will
- Analyze how historical fiction blends fact with imagination
- Track literary elements such as characterization, symbolism, tone, and theme
- Examine moral conflict and divided loyalty as central motifs
- Interpret Civil War–era primary sources and connect them to the novel
- Collaborate in group discussions and analytical writing
Key Literary Motifs to Track Throughout
- Loyalty versus conscience
- Childhood innocence and maturity
- Family division and national division
- War as personal, not abstract
- Justice, mercy, and moral choice
- Growth through responsibility
SESSION 1
Setting, Historical Context, and the Loss of Innocence
Chapters 1–3
Literary Focus
Setting, point of view, tone, historical realism
Primary Text Focus
Jethro’s early understanding of the war and its impact on his family.
Key Novel Excerpt:
“Jethro was scared when he heard them talk like that. He was scared of the war.”
Primary Source Support (Public Domain)
Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address (1861)
National Archives transcript:
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/first-inaugural-address
Illinois Soldiers’ Letters, Civil War Era
Library of Congress collection:
https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war/about-this-collection/
Group Activity: War Comes Home
Groups examine excerpts from soldiers’ letters describing fear, uncertainty, or family separation. They then connect these emotions to Jethro’s early confusion and fear.
Discussion Focus
- How does Hunt present the war as something that reaches into homes and farms?
- How does point of view shape the tone of the opening chapters?
- How do Lincoln’s words compare to the lived uncertainty in letters and the novel?
Groups write a paragraph analyzing how Hunt uses setting and point of view to introduce the war as a personal threat rather than a distant event, incorporating one idea from a primary source.
SESSION 2
Divided Loyalties and Moral Conflict
Chapters 4–7
Literary Focus
Characterization, internal conflict, theme
Primary Text Focus
The Creighton family’s divided allegiances, especially Bill’s decision to fight for the Confederacy.
Key Novel Excerpt:
“Bill didn’t see it as right or wrong. He saw it as home.”
Primary Source Support (Public Domain)
“A House Divided” Speech – Abraham Lincoln (1858)
National Park Service transcription:
https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/housedivided.htm
Civil War–Era Newspaper Editorials (Union and Confederate)
Library of Congress Chronicling America:
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
Group Activity: Loyalty Spectrum
Groups place characters from the novel along a spectrum from Union loyalty to Confederate sympathy, then compare this spectrum to opposing viewpoints in period newspapers.
Discussion Focus
- How does Hunt avoid simplifying loyalty into good versus evil?
- What pressures shape Bill’s decision?
- How do newspapers reveal the emotional language of division?
Groups write an analytical paragraph explaining how Hunt uses characterization to show the complexity of loyalty during wartime, referencing one primary source.
SESSION 3
Violence, Justice, and the Cost of War
Chapters 8–11
Literary Focus
Tone, symbolism, realism, ethical questions
Primary Text Focus
The consequences of war violence and vigilante justice.
Key Novel Excerpt:
“Jethro wondered if being right could hurt so much.”
Primary Source Support (Public Domain)
The Lieber Code (Instructions for the Government of Armies, 1863)
Yale Law School Avalon Project:
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lieber.asp
Photographs by Mathew Brady (Civil War)
Library of Congress collection:
https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war-photographs/about-this-collection/
Group Activity: Law vs. Revenge
Groups analyze excerpts from the Lieber Code about wartime conduct and compare them with scenes of violence and retribution in the novel.
Discussion Focus
- How does Hunt portray justice as uncertain and painful?
- What symbolic role does violence play in Jethro’s moral development?
- How do photographs and official codes contrast with lived experience?
Groups write a paragraph analyzing how tone and realism convey the emotional cost of war, using both the novel and one primary source.
SESSION 4
Growth, Responsibility, and Moral Maturity
Chapters 12–14
Literary Focus
Coming-of-age narrative, characterization, theme
Primary Text Focus
Jethro assumes adult responsibilities and moral judgment.
Key Novel Excerpt:
“He was not a child anymore. He could not be.”
Primary Source Support (Public Domain)
Frederick Douglass, “Men of Color, To Arms!” (1863)
Library of Congress:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbaapc.00100/
Civil War–Era Farm Records and Diaries
Library of Congress American Memory:
https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
Group Activity: Responsibility and Voice
Groups examine how Douglass frames responsibility and moral action, then compare this rhetoric to Jethro’s quieter, internal growth.
Discussion Focus
- How does Jethro’s maturity differ from traditional heroic narratives?
- How does Hunt use restraint and understatement to show growth?
- How do voices like Douglass’s expand the novel’s moral context?
Groups write a reflective analysis explaining how Jethro’s growth reflects broader social responsibility during wartime.
SESSION 5
Resolution, Memory, and the Meaning of Survival
Final Chapters
Literary Focus
Resolution, theme, reflective tone
Primary Text Focus
The war’s end and its lasting effects on family and community.
Key Novel Excerpt:
“The war was over, but it had marked them all.”
Primary Source Support (Public Domain)
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (1865)
National Archives:
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/second-inaugural-address
Civil War Pension Records
National Archives:
https://www.archives.gov/research/military/civil-war
Group Activity: After the War
Groups discuss how Lincoln’s call for “malice toward none” mirrors or contrasts with the emotional resolution of the novel.
Discussion Focus
- Does Hunt offer closure or quiet endurance?
- How does memory function as a lasting consequence of war?
- How does the novel redefine heroism?
Groups write a two-paragraph thematic analysis explaining how Across Five Aprils portrays survival as moral resilience rather than victory.
Final Group Synthesis Activity
“Five Aprils, Five Lessons”
Each group identifies one major lesson from each “April” of the novel. They present how historical context and literary craft work together to communicate that lesson, citing at least one primary source and one literary technique.
Conclusion
By the end of this workshop, students will understand Across Five Aprils as a powerful work of historical fiction that transforms national conflict into personal moral growth. Through collaborative reading, primary source analysis, and reflective writing, students engage deeply with literary structure, ethical complexity, and historical reality.