The Secret School - 2011 Book #100

The 100th and last book for this year is The Secret School by Avi. This was a really good book. It was about a girl named Ida, living in the early 1900's. She wanted to be a teacher when she grew up, and her best friend wanted to study electricity. Everything was going great. They were both going to take the exit exam and get ready to go to the high school the next year when something happened. The teacher of their one room schoolhouse had to leave suddenly, because her mother had a stroke. The director of the school board decided that he wasn't going to get a new teacher until the following school year, and school would be closed for the rest of the year.

Ida didn't know what to think about that. What she thought was her only chance to get to high school was now ruined. If she had to wait until next year to take the exit exam, her family's farm might not be doing as well as they were this year and might not be able to pay for her to go to the high school in town. She didn't know what she was going to do. Her best friend Tom came up with a solution: she could be their teacher. He suggested that she could be their teacher and keep the school open so they could all finish out the year, and both of them could take their final tests. Ida decides to do it, but she knows that the director of the school board wouldn't approve, so they do it secretly. All the kids vote and decide that they want to keep the school open and have Ida as their teacher. They all promise not to tell their parents, so they can keep coming to school.

Things start out okay, but there are problems. Ida has a hard time trying to be the teacher while still helping out at home on the farm and keeping up on her studies. She finds herself getting busier and busier and wonders if keeping the school open is worth losing herself and all that she wants to do. And what will happen if someone finds out about the secret school? Will it all be for nothing?

I think this book has a really good message about education and reaching your goals and doing what you think is right. It was a really good read, and I think it was a nice book to end the year with.