The year is 1925 and it’s a time of growth and change for Ida Bidson. She has completed eighth grade all while being a secret teacher to her one room school in Colorado’s Elkhead Mountains. She is now preparing to leave her home and move to Steamboat Springs to attend high school which will bring her one step closer to her ultimate goal of becoming a teacher.With all this change will she make new friends and be able to adjust to life away from home?

When I heard AVI wrote a sequel to The Secret School I couldn’t wait to read it. Ida’s heart for wanting to be a teacher really shined in that book. In the Secret Sister’s Ida learns a whole new set of lessons she could learn only from living life and interacting with things and ideas that are foreign to her.

Ida moves to Steamboat Springs to attend high school. Before leaving for school her parents remind her about the value of hard work and being yourself. On the first day of school Ida finds herself at odds with the school principle and not knowing anyone. But that changes quickly when a new friend,Lulu, invites her to join a first year girls club which Ida dubs the Secret Sisters. Each week the girls meet and a new president is chosen to decide what the activity for the week will be, their goal is to have fun and be best friends.

Overall, I enjoyed how AVI wove so much historical cultural references and viewpoints into the story. The era of the flapper was prominent with language and dances of the time. The nod to women winning the right to vote but still struggling with having to choose between working or getting married and having a family.
Growth in Ida is seen as she remembers the wise words of her mom, “Just be yourself, love” . Ida chooses to be an independent thinker who stands up for what is right even if those around her disapprove. It was a lovely read to see Ida grow from being the teacher to being the student in life once again.

I had read The Secret School by Avi years ago and really enjoyed it so I was delighted to get my hands on an ARC of The Secret Sisters, which continues Ida's educational adventures.

Ida is a delightful character who sets out on her new adventure with a mix of emotions - she misses her family and home a bit, is excited to meet new people, worries about being accepted and more. All of Ida's feelings will resonate with readers who have those same feelings - just in a different time period! Ida is determined to get an education and moving away from her family to board with someone she barely knows. She experiences a huge range of new things - indoor bathrooms, hot water, electricity, the movie theater, and a big school full of subjects she has no real knowledge of. (Imagine her surprise when she learns Latin is not a country - no wonder she couldn't find it on the map!)

Ida quickly makes friends, comes into her own as a student and manages to upset the principal who has some very firm ideas about what is proper. Through it all, Ida begins to figure out just who she is and what she believes in - finding chosen sisters who help her along the way. The book was a delightful read and a trip to the past that confronts women's rights, coming of age, and taking risks.

This is a very sweet coming of age story! Recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this title ahead of its release date.

First sentence: As far as Ida Bidson was concerned, it was the most exciting day in her fourteen years of life: she was about to leave for high school. It was September 13, 1925, a bright and chilly Sunday morning, when she stepped out of her log cabin home, high among Colorado's Elkhead Mountains.

Premise/plot: The Secret Sisters is the sequel to Avi's Secret School. Ida Bidson, our fourteen year old protagonist, is taking her first steps to fulfilling her lifelong dreams. She's leaving home to attend high school. She'll be boarding with Miss Trudy Sedgewick who will be acting as her guardian for the school year.

The novel chronicles one semester--the fall semester--at high school. Ida will be meeting teachers, classmates, and...the school principal. Some will be kindred spirits...others not so much. She'll be taking many subjects--most of them new to her. She'll also be experiencing a more 'modern' world. Indoor plumbing. Electricity. Movie theaters with motion pictures. Popular music.

It is titled Secret Sisters. This is the club that she forms with other freshman girls. Each week they take turns being 'president' of the club and choose a new activity to do.

My thoughts: I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this one so much. I loved meeting Ida and all of her new friends. They were a hoot! I love that this one is so grounded in the 1920s. Ida is learning a new way to talk, and a new way to "experience" the world around her. In addition to the vocabulary, there's plenty of cultural references to songs, dances, movies, actors, artists, hairstyles and fashion, etc. Even 'new' recipes for 'modern' households. I love that Trudy is so determined to be 'modern' that she is cooking all these recipes from magazines. Readers are learning alongside Ida about this 'modern' world. So it never feels like an info-dump as Ida processes the world around her.

I loved the characters and characterization. I loved the story. I wouldn't mind a book for each semester of her high school year.

Quotes:

She searched for the country called Latin but couldn't find it. As she flipped through the book, she felt as if the world were getting bigger.
Learning is wonderful. But at the same time--hard. Why is something good hard? Because, she told herself, the more you learn, the more things change. It's not the learning that's hard--it's the changing.

Okay, this book was incredible. I loved the theme of standing up for your rights and all the feminism involved! I hadn't read the first book in the series, but I am definitely going to do that now.