Across Five Aprils- Summary The book Across Five Aprils, by Irene Hunt, is a great fiction novel that gives the reader a good perspective of the average family during the Civil War. This book shows the hardships and tough times that the war cast upon everyone in the U.S. The author tries to get the reader to be sucked in by the constant goings on in the lives of the many characters. This story takes place in southern Illinois in the 1860s during the Civil War. The main character, Jethro Creighton, is a nine-year-old boy that lives on his family's farm during the war. His brother Tom an