Later, she taught psychology at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, but eventually returned to elementary and junior high school to become a director of language arts in Illinois.
Chosen a Newbery Honor Book, the novel was also Hunt's personal favorite among the ones she wrote.
A critic maintains: "Brilliant characterization, a telling sense of story, an uncanny ability to balance fact and fiction, and compassionate, graceful writing mark Hunt's small but distinguished body of work."
With Across Five Aprils, Hunt established herself as one of the greatest historical novelists, proving that she can write for both adult and children audiences.
Her next novel, Up a Road Slowly, won the 1967 Newbery Medal She died on her 98th birthday on May 18, 2001.