Tamhack's Reviews > Across Five Aprils

This is a written for children through the eyes of a 10 year old boy but the author has taken true stories passed down from her Grandfather who was a 9 year boy at the beginning of the Civil War. Then she did extensive research to fill in the holes. It gave a good picture of the civil war from a Northern perspective. Even families in the North were divided. She gave a good picture of the Generals of the Northern armies and how difficult it was for Lincoln to find one that would win the war and end it. Sometimes it was difficult to understand the conversations because she was true to the characters and wrote exactly as they spoke.
Some quotes from the book:
"..does trouble over slavery come because men's hearts is purer above the Mason-Dixon line? Or does slavery throw a shader over greed and keep that greed from shown' up quite so bare and ugly?"
"Human nature ain't any better one side of a political line than on the other-we know that-but human nature, the all-over picture of it, is better than it was a thousand-five hundred-even a hundred years ago. There is an awakening' inside us of human decency and responsibility. If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't grieve fer the children I've buried; I wouldn't look forward to the manhood of this youngest one."