The Secret Sisters
Clarion Books, 2023
buy the book
audio book narrated by
Lauren Fortgang
read the first book about Ida:
if you liked this book, try:
What’s this book about?
Attending high school in Steamboat Springs is Ida Bidson’s dream—it’s her next step toward becoming a teacher and her best shot at escaping a life of milking cows. It’s 1925, and from using telephones to attending movies, Ida is thrilled by her new experiences in Steamboat. She and her school friends even form a club, the Secret Sisters, to celebrate everything modern.
But when they accidentally antagonize the strict, traditionalist principal, Ida’s high school career may be over before it even begins. It’s up to the Secret Sisters find a way to save Ida’s dream!
Readers will cheer for Ida as she continues the adventure begun in the one-room schoolhouse of Avi’s popular The Secret School.
Resources
Reviews
Middle-grades master Avi charms in this delightful sequel to 2011’s The Secret School.
It’s 1925, and fourteen-year-old Ida Bidson can’t wait to start high school in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Because it’s twenty miles from her home in Elkhead Mountain, Ida will board with Trudy Sedgewick, who works for the school district. When Ida arrives for her first day of school, she quickly realizes she’s a fish out of water. All the other girls have bobbed hair while hers is long and braided, and their skirts are much shorter. But Ida quickly makes friends with a group of girls, including the fast-talking, flapper-slang-slinging Lulu Gallagher. Together, the group forms a club called “The Secret Sisters,” and they vow to try something new every week.
But on one fateful day, as their music teacher is showing them how to do the Charleston, the principal barges in. Still stinging from Ida’s correcting him in front of other students on the first day of school, Principal Langly pins responsibility for the “inappropriate” club and its activities squarely on Ida. To make matters worse, he suggests that all of the Sisters could be expelled after midterm exams in November. Ida and her friends resolve to crank up their studying to ensure they ace the exams so they can stay in school.
Quaint and sweet, this book will resonate with any reader who has ever come into conflict with an authority figure, either intentionally or not. Ida’s desire to make something of herself and not disappoint her family is infinitely relatable, and the secondary plot of why Trudy Sedgewick seems sad and aloof adds emotional heft. A glossary of flapper slang at the end of the book ensures that readers won’t get confused trying to translate Lulu’s entertaining speech. Highly recommended. (Sarah Hendness, Historical Novel Society)
This sequel to The Secret School (2001) continues the story of 14-year-old Ida, who leaves her home on a Colorado farm in 1925 to attend high school in Steamboat Springs. Ida boards with Trudy, a woman mourning for her fiancé, who fought in the Great War and died during the 1918 pandemic. Besides encouraging Ida to work hard and avoid annoying the principal, Trudy expresses concern that Ida is influenced too much by her “secret sisters” (a small group of new classmates), particularly lively, rebellious Lulu. When stressful situations arise, Ida handles them with support from those around her and with increasing confidence in herself and her values. While Avi focuses primarily on Ida’s excitement, worries, and growth as her world expands, certain elements place the story firmly within its historical context. These include the increasing support of women’s rights, the widespread adoption of innovations such as radio, electric lights, and telephones, and Lulu’s use of flapper slang, which is translated within the text and the appended glossary. An enjoyable historical novel with a likable heroine. (Carolyn Phelan, Booklist)
Ida Bidson attended a one-room schoolhouse, but in September 1925, she says goodbye to her family. She won’t be home for two months. Ida dreams of being a teacher, so she must go 20 miles away to high school. Kind county school inspector Miss Sedgewick lets Ida board with her for free, and everything feels so modern: indoor plumbing, electricity, and a telephone! Ida’s anxious to please but wrestles with what’s considered proper and what other people think of her. When she makes some friends, they form the Secret Sisters club to try new things and help each other in school. But the girls end up on the bad side of the principal, who has firm attitudes about ladylike behavior, women voters, and the capability of rural students and threatens to expel them. Getting good grades on the upcoming midterm exams is critical. While maintaining a solid grounding in the 1920s, the novel tackles self-discovery amid challenging situations, including dealing with peer pressure, misogyny, classism, and general unfairness, in ways contemporary readers will find accessible and relatable. Historical facts are memorably and organically conveyed through Ida’s innate curiosity. Characters read White; one of Ida’s friends is from an immigrant mining community, and her name cues as having East European heritage. One for smart, outspoken kids looking for their places in the world. (Kirkus Reviews)
buy the book
read the first book about Ida:
if you liked this book, try: