The Secret School

Written by Avi
Illustrated by Brian Floca

1920’s rural Colorado. When the regular teacher of the valley’s one-room schoolhouse must leave, bringing an early school closing, the children decide to take over, secretly. But there are many problems to surmount: trouble-making Herbert Bixler, a suspicious School Board, plus the fact that the new teacher, Ida Bidson, is not only one of the students but only fourteen years old!

The Secret School, by Avi, is a story about kids, community and education. Not so very long ago, America was dotted with thousands of one-room schoolhouses. While they still exist in small numbers, it was in the late 1950's that school consolidation, as it was called, pushed them aside. Until that time they provided the educational basics for millions of young people in rural America. From Texas to Wisconsin, from Florida to Washington, it is astonishing how much they had in common. While not glossing over weakness and faults—inadequate books and supplies, dreadful pay for teachers, poor facilities for teaching science, social isolation—those who were part of the system speak of its powerful sense of community, of learning as a continuum, and high educational achievement.

Spanish translation available.

Stats