by Avi
"The navy?"
"Sail the seven seas."
"Did you tell your father?"
"Nope. You're the only one who knows."
"And I guess you figure never to come back."
"I dunno. Maybe I will. Depends who's around."
"Herbert Bixler," said Ida, "this may have been a secret school, but you're the biggest secret of all."
Herbert looked at her. She wished she knew what he was thinking. But then he turned and walked away.
She was still looking after him when Tom sidled up. "Hey, Miss Bidson," he said, "thanks for being our teacher."
"You're welcome," Ida managed to say. "Thanks for the idea in the first place."
"Yeah, but now that it's all over, do you know what I like most about it?"
"No."
"I can call you Ida again. All the time."
"I'd like that."
"Hey, Ida," he said with a grin, "want some lemonade?"
"Do you, Tom?"
"Sure as aces."
"We're real proud of you, Ida," her mother said as the family drove home.
"Real proud," Mr. Bidson agreed. "Only thing is, you've got some serious work cut out for you this summer."
"Why?" Ida said, slightly alarmed.
"Well, you'll be going to high school in the Ml, right? Boarding with Miss Sedgewick. That means we'll be losing a strong pair of hands. The more work you get done this summer, the easier it's going to be for the rest of us when you go."
"Get Tom up here!" Felix shouted. "He'll do anything for Ida."
Mr. and Mrs. Bidson laughed. Ida's face turned red. But she smiled and looked out the window, and though it was dark outside, all she could see was brightness.
CHATTING WITH AVI
Question: Did you always want to be a writer, or did you try a different career path before you chose writing?
Avi: I made up my mind to be a writer when I was a seventeen-year-old in high school.
Q: Were there particular books or people that influenced your passion for storytelling?
A: Ever since I learned to read, I have read voluminously and continually. There is no one book—and no one writer—that is key to my work.
Q: What is your writing process? How many drafts do you write?
A: I rewrite everything fifty or sixty times. Sometimes—before it's done—I share the book with an editor, or read some of it to my wife. When the work is complete—but not done—I often read it to a class of kids.
Q: How do you come up with story ideas? What sparked the idea for The Secret School?
A: A writer is someone who shapes his or her ideas into words and narratives. It's the way I think. The original idea for The Secret School came from someone who told me how she went to a one-room schoolhouse the way Ida did—she doing the driving, her brother working the foot pedals.
Q: Do personal experiences or details ever end up in your books?
A: To be sure. The Secret School takes place in an area (Elk Valley, Colorado) where we have a mountain home.
Q: Many of your novels are historical fiction. What is it about history that intrigues you?
A: All history is the first chapter of our lives—the prologue, if you will. You can't understand the present without knowing about the past. You can't invent the future without knowing how things can change.
Q: How do you keep your historical characters authentic? Are they modeled after people you know?
A: While people are shaped and often defined by the historical moment, people remain people. What changes is the way they think about the world. If you think you have a chance to do what you wish with your life, you act differently than if you believe you can do nothing.
Q: The events in The Secret School take place in 1925. Did you have to do any research to tell Ida Bidson's story?
A: There are many accounts and autobiographical notes about one-room schoolhouses—which I read. I also interviewed a number of people who had attended them. One-room schoolhouses (old and new) exist all over the country today.
Q: Self-reliance is an important theme in many of your stories, including The Secret School What drives your exploration of this theme?
A: Young people live in a world controlled, shaped, and ordered by older people. To become more than a child you must take charge of your own fate.
Q: In taking over the school, Ida not only affects her own destiny, she makes a difference in the lives of the other students, too. In what ways do you hope your novels will influence your readers?
A: My novels are meant to entertain, engage, and help shape ideas and emotions. I have neither an agenda nor a desire to teach anything. If I can expand the experience of any reader, I'm pleased.
READER CHAT PAGE
Ida must choose between hating herself and scaring herself. Have you ever faced a similar choice? What did you decide? Would you make the same decision now?
Tom tells Ida something his uncle once said: "If you want to try something new, and you're not scared, means you're not really trying something new." What did he mean?
When Ida's dad asks her if she wants to be treated like a kid or a grown-up, she confesses, "I don't know." Why wouldn't she want to be treated like an adult?
Ida has to deal with Herbert when he acts up in class. Would you have handled the situation differently if you were in her place?
Tom warns Ida not to forget who she is. Why would that make things harder for Ida and her friends?
How is a day in Ida's one-room school different from or similar to a day in your own school?
About the Author
AVI has written many acclaimed books for middle-grade and teen readers, including his Newbery Medal winner, Crispin: The Cross of Lead, and his two Newbery Honor winners, Nothing But the Truth: A Documentary Novel and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Avi began his career as a playwright, then turned to writing books for young readers after he had children. He lives with his family in Denver, Colorado, when he's not at their Elk Valley mountain retreat—the setting for The Secret School.
