29. The Secret School

The Secret School Avi. 2001. 157 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: On a cool Monday morning in early April 1925, Ida Bidson, aged fourteen, carefully guided her family's battered Model T Ford along a narrow, twisting dirt road in Elk Valley, Colorado. "Brake and clutch!" she shouted. Ida, only four-feet-eleven and unable to reach the floor of the car, knelt on the torn seat and gripped the steering wheel tightly. Her seven-year-old brother, Felix, hunched on the floor before her and used his hands to push the brake and clutch pedals down. 

Premise/plot: Ida desperately wants the chance to go to high school. Ultimately she wants to go to "normal school" and get her teaching certificate as well. But this eighth grader may not get the chance to graduate eighth grade dashing all her future dreams. Why? Well, their current teacher is leaving abruptly--a family emergency. The school board had decided to end the term early. The two eighth graders wouldn't get a chance to take their final [final, final] exams and graduate. The two wouldn't be permitted to go on to high school the next school term. But Ida, well, she has BIG dreams. And when someone suggests that she should be their teacher for the rest of the term, well, it makes a lot of sense. It has risks, for sure. She'll be a secret teacher at a secret school. Will she get a chance to take her exam? Will she be going to high school after all?

My thoughts: I love, love, love stories of one-room schoolhouses. This one was a PERFECTLY PERFECT fit for me. I loved getting to know Ida. I loved getting to know all her classmates/students. I felt the story was fleshed out. It felt very REAL. I cared about these students and their families. I wanted more, more, more. 

I don't know WHY I'm just now discovering this one. But I am super thankful I read it.

 

© 2023 Becky Laney of Young Readers