Many teachers are familiar with the historical novels of Irene Hunt: Across Five Aprils, Up a Road Slowly, and The Lottery Rose, for example. But did you know that Hunt was also a distinguished teacher?

Hunt graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 1939, and earned her master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 1946. She taught English and French in public schools in Oak Park, Illinois, from 1930 to 1945. For the next four years she taught psychology at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, and then she returned to teaching in public schools in Cicero, Illinois, from 1950 to 1969, when she retired to write full time. She published her first novel, Across Five Aprils, when she was 57 years old.

As a young girl, Hunt spent a great deal of time with her grandfather, who spent countless hours recounting stories of his childhood during the Civil War. These stories eventually became the basis of her historical novels.

Hunt was a pro at using historical novels in the classroom. She once said, “While teaching social studies to junior high school students, I felt that teaching history through literature was a happier, more effective process.”