Everyone struggles with time. Some are constantly tardy, and others never have enough of the stuff. It is constant and unstoppable. Writers are no stranger to this time battle, and fight against everything from deadlines to deceased sources. Even within their works, time can be their enemy, as a story’s success rises or falls on proper framing and focus. Newbery-winning author Irene Hunt understood time and used it to her advantage. In her children’s books Across Five Aprils and Up a Road Slowly, time and its passage are used in impactful ways, allowing readers to grow alongside the protagonists in a steady, but never ponderous, manner.
Up a Road Slowly, the story of Julie Trelling’s “growth from a tantrum-throwing seven-year-old to a gracious young woman of seventeen,” spans a decade in 183 pages. Never once does it feel rushed or jumbled, as Hunt highlights various moments that punctuate our protagonist’s years. Some are small happenings, such as dinners with her father. But at other times, she is cruel toward a classmate or fights with her beloved sister. School, friends, family, dating, death — all are woven together and show us the formative years of a young woman. One mark of good children’s literature is its ability to teach us how to grow up well. Not every aspect of Julie’s life perfectly matches our own, but it contains many universal themes that do touch us all.
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