Having read other books by Avi in the past, I was ready for another good read. This book certainly qualified! I am sure middle school kids will be able to identify with Ida as she begins her 1025 high school career in a town far from her own home.

Ida experiences feelings and events common to most kids, such as feeling lost at her new school, getting used to new situations (including the modern world!), and meeting new friends. The Secret Sisters is the name of the club to which Ida and some friends belong. I especially enjoyed the historical descriptions and the "flapper talk" of LuLu!

This is a book meant to be devoured and loved (which I did). I am sure middle school readers will find this book to be one they will rapidly read and never forget. I highly recommend this book.

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own. ( )

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. ( )