Across Five Aprils By Irene Hunt
Dictation Passages
Week One He filled a burlap pouch with the potato cuttings and hoisted it expertly to his thin shoulder where a batch of new freckles was just beginning to appear. The world seemed a good place to him that morning, and he felt ready to stride down the length of the field with a firm step and a joke on his lips. (Chapter 1, 7)
Week One
Across Five Aprils
Week One Note: You may like starting with the Author’s Note at the back of the book before you read. It’s wonderful to read the story of the main family knowing that most of their experiences were taken from the real life memories of the author’s family!
Setting:: He filled a burlap pouch with the potato cuttings and hoisted it expertly to his thin shoulder where a batch of new freckles was just beginning to appear. The world seemed a good place to him that morning, and he felt ready to stride down the length of the field with a firm step and a joke on his lips. (Chapter 1, 7)
Why this passage:: A few important details are established in the opening of this novel. First, Hunt gives the readers a date in the opening paragraph (April, 1861). She also supplies the age for the protagonist: 9-year-old Jethro. The passage cited above needs to be understood in light of these two details. First, April 1861 is the eve of the Civil War, as historical hindsight makes possible. Unlike the reader, however, 9-year-old Jethro is filled with optimism. He is a child, unaware that America’s biggest test is about to interrupt his childhood. He feels that the world is a “good place” because he is living in his time, without the benefit of historical perspective.
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© 2011 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Week Two
Across Five Aprils
What to note:: The setting is important to the development of the story. It’s almost unimaginable in our current context to picture a nine-year-old doing the kind of work entrusted to Jethro. His “firm step” as he strides down the field gives the reader a sense of confidence—that Jethro is capable of these adult tasks, that he is already more man than we might have otherwise expected. “...[W]here a batch of new freckles was just beginning to appear.” This passage illustrates a use of grammar that students need to master. It’s very easy to mistakenly write: “...where a batch of new freckles were just beginning to appear.” The writer (and reader) are misled by the plural noun (freckles) and therefore select a plural form of the verb to modify what feels like the subject of that phrase. However, if you look more closely at that sentence, you can see that the subject is the noun batch, not freckles. “Batch” is singular and “of freckles” is a prepositional phrase. As a result, the proper grammar is to match the verb form to the singular subject: in this case, “batch” goes with “was.
How to teach the passage:: The passage itself is not a complicated one for punctuation or vocabulary. “Hoisted” is a terrific word and one worth filing away for future use, if it’s not a regular part of your vocabulary. As a first passage of the month, this one makes an excellent choice for straight dictation. It’s one that lends itself to minimal study so that the student can test his or her skill in listening carefully and reproducing the accurate punctuation by listening more than preparing.
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© 2011 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Week Two Two weeks later came the news that Fort Donelson had also fallen to General Grant. Then people really went wild with joy. “God bless old U. S. Grant,” they shrieked. “Bless old Unconditional Surrender Grant.” They laughed and cried, and nearly everybody thought that the war would be over in a matter of weeks. “What do you think, Pa?” Jenny asked eagerly a few days later, as she put down the paper she had been reading aloud to the family. “Do you think it’s about over?” (Chapter 4, 47)
Week Two
Across Five Aprils
Week Two Dialog:: Two weeks later came the news that Fort Donelson had also fallen to General Grant. Then people really went wild with joy. “God bless old U. S. Grant,” they shrieked. “Bless old Unconditional Surrender Grant.” They laughed and cried, and nearly everybody thought that the war would be over in a matter of weeks. “What do you think, Pa?” Jenny asked eagerly a few days later, as she put down the paper she had been reading aloud to the family. “Do you think it’s about over?” (Chapter 4, 47)
Why this passage:: Dialog is difficult to use from this novel since most of the conversations focus on dialect rather than Standard English. This is one instance where the student is afforded the chance to use dialog punctuation without also wrestling through the unconventional spellings.
What to note:: One of the interesting aspects of reading Across Five Aprils is the opportunity to compare current events to past history. Going to war often leads patriotic citizens to underestimate how long it takes to convincingly win the battles that lead to surrender. It seems strange to read that anyone thought the Civil War would be over quickly since we know now that it was an enormously costly war in terms of American lives. -6-
© 2011 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Week Three
Across Five Aprils
In terms of punctuation, this passage has many uses of capital letters. •
Fort Donelson
•
General Grant
•
God
•
U. S. Grant
•
Unconditional Surrender Grant
•
Pa
•
Jenny
“Unconditional Surrender Grant” is a play on his initials “Ulysses S. Grant” and is used as a nickname, which is why it is capitalized (and why “old” in front of it is not).
How to teach the passage:: The punctuation for dialog has the following properties: new indentations each time the speaker changes, end marks go inside the quotation marks, and periods are changed to commas if an attributive tag follows.
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© 2011 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Week Three It was coal oil. That was a kind of punishment favored by mobs and selfappointed judges—coal oil in the culprit’s well. It could cause him any amount of labor and anguish; it took little time or intelligence or skill, and it released most effectively the malice and spite of those who took punishment into their own hands. (Chapter 6, 107)
Week Three
Across Five Aprils
Week Three Varied punctuation:: It was coal oil. That was a kind of punishment favored by mobs and selfappointed judges—coal oil in the culprit’s well. It could cause him any amount of labor and anguish; it took little time or intelligence or skill, and it released most effectively the malice and spite of those who took punishment into their own hands. (Chapter 6, 107)
Why this passage:: Both the idea in this passage and the punctuation make it a good choice for dictation.
What to note:: This passage includes the following punctuation marks: •
Periods
•
Hyphen
•
Em dash
•
Apostrophe
•
Semi-colon
•
Comma
It would be worth looking up coal oil to see what it looks like. It’s commonly called “lamp oil” or kerosene. Added to water, it would be dangerous to drink and -9-
© 2011 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Week Four
Across Five Aprils
difficult to separate. Also, it would be readily available to those wanting to behave in punishing ways.
How to teach the passage:: In terms of preparation for dictation, the main instruction centers on knowing the forms of punctuation listed above. Consult NGG and MNGG for details about how to use a semi-colon, for instance. In this case, the two independent clauses are joined with a semi-colon because the second adds detail to the first. The passage itself acts as a metaphor in the story. The literal act of putting coal oil in water is a malicious, cowardly way to express disapproval. Hunt writes that “mobs and self-appointed judges” favor this method because they do execute it without skill or intelligence, yet it creates a dastardly effect. At a time when news came slowly, when the papers were the only source of information about battles won and lost, helplessness among the citizenry grew. If you couldn’t fight in the war itself, perhaps the only recourse was to pick a fight (in the minds of some). The choice to pour oil into a well can be understood as two liquids without the possibility of co-existing. Water is essential to survival; coal oil is used for light. Yet when mixed, neither can function according to their properties. In a similar way, America could not move forward while the North and the South were thoroughly mixed up in a war between brothers. Neither could carry out their respective roles in the functioning of government, agriculture, commerce and democracy. Whether you supported the president or not, America had become a poisoned well swiftly and it would take a long time and a lot of heart and skill to repair her.
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© 2011 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Week Four He tried for a while to believe that the agony inside him was part of one of the nightmares that had recurred so often ever since the early stories of Wilson’s Creek. But the warm April breeze stirred his hair, and the smell of the earth and the cry of the birds in the trees above him were a part of reality. This was no dream. Abraham Lincoln had been senselessly slain by the hand of a madman, and Jethro Creighton, with all the people of his time, had suffered an irreparable loss. (Chapter 12, 185)
Week Four
Across Five Aprils
Week Four April 14, 1865:: He tried for a while to believe that the agony inside him was part of one of the nightmares that had recurred so often ever since the early stories of Wilson’s Creek. But the warm April breeze stirred his hair, and the smell of the earth and the cry of the birds in the trees above him were a part of reality. This was no dream. Abraham Lincoln had been senselessly slain by the hand of a madman, and Jethro Creighton, with all the people of his time, had suffered an irreparable loss. (Chapter 12, 185)
Why this passage:: It seems important to mark the passing of the great Abraham Lincoln by writing about Jethro’s reaction to it.
What to note:: The five Aprils act as scaffolding for this story. It’s a strange juxtaposition to read of the end of the war, the rebirth of the country, the restorative, hope-giving properties of spring and a senseless assassination of one of America’s greatest presidents all in the same chapter. It’s also interesting to note that the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. occurred in April 1968 after the successful passage of the Civil Rights Act (1964). 100 years after the end of the Civil War, Americans fought over whether or not to grant full equal rights to African Americans and another American was assassinated as part of that process. - 12 -
© 2011 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Week Four
Across Five Aprils
How to teach this passage:: The punctuation makes use of commas, periods and an apostrophe. There are several capital letters used for the names of people, a month and a place. “[S]enselessly slain” uses alliteration (repetition of initial consonant sound) to add emphasis to that detail.
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© 2011 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Think Piece Questions
Across Five Aprils
Think Piece Questions The following questions are designed to offer you ways to think about Across Five Aprils. If you find it daunting to write about these topics at first, use them for conversation starters with your parents or a sibling who has read the books. Go out for shakes and talk about the novel in these terms. As you get comfortable talking through a book, eventually try answering one of the questions in writing.
Questions 1.
This story opens with Jethro at age 9 and ends when he is 13. Think about when you were 9 – 13. Can you imagine shouldering the kinds of responsibilities that he had? List his responsibilities and how he grew into them. What conditions made it possible for a boy his age to act the part of a man? Where do we see evidence that he is still a boy and needs (craves) a father or parent or mature adult to help him?
2. The story is framed by “five Aprils.” Consider the month of April. What might it represent metaphorically (in the northern hemisphere, it is spring, so think about what spring represents)? Describe the stages of Northern perspective about the war (find passages to support your viewpoint). For instance, in the first year, the Union appears to have early success, which makes northerners feel overly confident about a short skirmish as opposed to a lengthy war. Later, some of these same Americans want the war to be over and for the South to be let go. Why? 3. Detail the difference between the generals the North put forth versus the perception of Robert E. Lee. How much did it matter to have a focal point for the war effort (a person to root for)? Why, do you think? How did U. S. Grant surprise everyone in the end? 4. Hunt makes it clear that very few adults in this story of a farming community were proficient readers and that learning to read would give one a clear advantage in the coming era. What might some of those advantages be? (Hint: Think about both education and opportunity to understand others…) 5. Hunt uses the Creighton family (and friends) to explore a variety of “types” that might be typical during the Civil War era. Describe each brother (what was his unique war experience) and Shadrach’s. Then look at Ellen and Mathew - 14 -
© 2011 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Think Piece Questions
Across Five Aprils
Creighton (what role do they play in the story of the Civil War?), Jenny (note her age and choices) and finally Jethro. How does Jethro function as the best narrator for the story (hint: he stays in one place, he can read, he’s male, he’s old enough to be of use, young enough not to go to war, etc.)? 6. Most Americans today assume that the abolition of slavery was the root cause of the Civil War. What do we learn in this book about abolition? What are some of the reasons listed for the North’s motivation to end slavery? How are those different than what you may have always thought? 7.
What would have happened had Bill come home to his town after he fought for the South? How would his family receive him? How would the townspeople?
8. Which side do you think Jethro would have fought on had he been old enough to go to war? Why? 9. “The Gettysburg Address” is not quoted in this book, but it is mentioned. Some historians say that it holds the place of “most reverenced speech delivered in American history.” Take some time to read it now (you can look it up online). Compare what you read with this story and what you know about Lincoln. What reactions do you have to the speech? Why do you think it might be considered memorable? (Remember: the faith of the northern army was flagging at this point in the war and some were wishing to give up and end it.) How might the speech have helped the Union to persevere?
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© 2011 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer
Think Piece Questions
Across Five Aprils
Golden Lines Each month, select one favorite passage from the book to keep in a notebook of golden lines. You might want to pick two this month (one from each story). You’ll pick a passage, copy it into a notebook and then write the date you picked it and the location in the book (which chapter and page number). Then jot down a sentence or two about why the passage is meaningful to you.
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© 2011 - Julie Bogart - Brave Writer