The Secret School

by Avi

Book Overview

More than anything, Ida Bidson wants to become a teacher. To do that, she must finish eighth grade, then go on to high school. But her dream falters when the one-room school in her remote Colorado town shuts down. Her only hope is to keep the school open without anyone finding out. Yet even a secret school needs a teacher. Ida can't be it. . . . Or can she?
In the spirit of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Newbery Medal winner Avi creates...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0152046992
• ISBN13: 9780152046996
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Length: 157 Pages
• Weight: 0.37 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.0" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Wonderful book!

The passion this young girl had to go to high school is amazing.

All the qualities of its main character - sweet, charming, unpretentious and smart.

Ida Bidson attends school in a one-room schoolhouse in 1925 Colorado. One day, her teacher is called away to take care of her sick mother. Since it is late in the year, the school board agrees to close the school and allow the children to take up their studies the next year if they find a new teacher. But Ida doesn't want to wait a year. She is in eighth grade and wants to go on to high school. She has dreams of being a teacher and they are about to come true (sooner than she thinks!) When her friend Tom suggests that she be the teacher, Ida thinks it might be a good idea but the school board can't know. It's a big decision though and she takes it very seriously. When the students agree that they will keep the departure of their teacher a secret and that they will keep attending school if Ida teaches, Ida decides that she will do it. Ida takes all her responsibilities seriously and becomes a very good teacher. But she still has to work on the farm AND she has her own exam to study for. It becomes bit overwhelming and it becomes increasingly difficult for her to keep up with it all. Will Ida's secret school stay a secret? Will the students learn enough from Ida to progress to the next grade? Will the school close permanently if Ida is not successful? It's a lot of pressure on one 14-year-old but if anyone can handle it, Ida can. I highly recommend this book to girls. Ida is a fantastic role model for persistence and having faith in one's convictions. Yet this is not just "girl book". Boys can learn a thing or two from the character of Ida. They might even find a bit of themselves in Tom Kohl, Herbert Bixler or Ida's brother Felix. This is no thrill ride or huge suspense story. But it has real value nonetheless. It is sweet and charming, unpretentious - much like its main character. Avi describes each landscape and each conversation superbly yet with an economy of words. Like Avi's other works, this book not only teaches us about the characters and the time they live in, it also teaches us something about ourselves and basic human nature. I enjoyed this book.

Look at this fantastic book by:NMD Grade 5

It's a plain, regular day in a Colarado one-room school house in the year 1925. Ida Bidson, age 14, hopes to become a teacher. To do that she must finish 8th grade and complete high shcool. Cautiously the other children and Ida discover that Miss Fletcher, the teacher, has to go to Iowa to help her mom because of her mom's sickness. Later on in the book the school shuts down due to the absece of Miss Fletcher. Is this an opportunity for Ida?

Book Review

The Secret School, a wonderful novel by Avi takes the reader on an adventure in the Colorodo mountains during 1925. Ida Bidsoon a 14 year girl, is the main character, and she goes to a one room school with only eight students. One day Ida's teacher announces that her mother is very ill, and she has to move which is a big problem for Ida becasue school would close. If school closes, there would be no exam, no high school, no future. So the students decide, since Ida wants to become a teacher, to make her their teacher, but tell no one. The reader will enjoy this book because of all the details that make you apart of the story. In the end, will Ida's dream come true? Well, read the book and see!

Secret School shouldn't be a secret!

Avi's The Secret School is great! It's a fun, active story that not only teaches about old fashioned life and values and encourages the importance of schooling, but also makes you think about determination, working as a group, and independence. I'd recommend it to anyone; excellent! :)))

A determined frontier girl follows her dreams.

Fourteen-year-old Ida Bidson's dream is to become a teacher. But in her remote, poverty-stricken region of Colorado, most dreams don't come true, and those that do take hard work, devotion, and sometimes, just plain luck. But luck seems to be going against Ida when, two months before the end of the term, the teacher must leave to care for her sick mother. Stingy Mr. Jordan, the head of the school board, refuses to hire a teacher this close to the end of the school year. So Ida takes it upon herself to be the teacher, and run the school in secret, so that she can graduate eighth grade and be eligible to attend high school in the fall. But what will happen to Ida and her students if their secret school is discovered? This was a wonderful historical novel about one girl's determination to do whatever it takes to make her hopes and dreams come true.