Secret Schools: True Stories of the Determination to Learn

Award-winning writer HEATHER CAMLOT is the author of the non-fiction book What If Soldiers Fought with Pillows?, as well as two novels for young adults. A journalist for more than 20 years, she has written, edited and translated for various print and online publications. She lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her family.

"SECRET SCHOOLS is about the power of education and how far some have had to go to offer it and to access it. This highly readable and inspiring book introduces middle-grade readers to 15 real-life examples of people and communities from all over the globe and at various times in history who established clandestine schools or education circles out of a thirst for knowledge, to ensure their basic rights, and to preserve the only world they've ever known. The book is organized into 5 sections: Section 1: Cultural Connections--Protecting One's Identity - Includes stories of the secret language and cultural schools established by Japanese migrant workers in Brazil, Indigenous people in Ecuador, and Lithuanians living under Russian rule. Section 2: Hope and Dignity--Escaping Slavery and Oppression - Includes stories of schools secretly run by enslaved Africans in the United States, Jewish people in ghettos and concentration camps during WWII and Black South Africans who'd been imprisoned for fighting to end Apartheid. Section 3: Girls' Rights--Banding Together for Gender Equality - Includes stories of the Flying University students of Warsaw, girls' schools funded by secret societies of Iranian women, and an academic school for women disguised as a sewing school in Afghanistan. Section 4: Spy Schools--Going Underground and Undercover - Includes stories of espionage schools run by the Soviet Union's KGB agents, the British government's Camp X (housed on Canadian soil), and a Cold War Russian language training school. Section 5: Radical Learning--Moving in a New Direction - Includes stories of student-led pro-democracy study circles in Korea, Elon Musk's experimental educational approach with his Ad Astra school, and the Indonesian government's program to protect and educate the children of violent extremists. Each 2-page story includes a sidebar with additional biographical information about individuals who played significant roles in the school. Includes endnotes and a selected bibliography."--]cProvided by publisher.