Elk Valley, Colorado

This is the small farming community in which the narrative takes place. Surrounded by mountains, the community feels somewhat isolated from the rest of the world, a circumstance that both Ida and Tom experience personally and metaphorically.

The Bidson Farm

Ida and her family live on a small but busy farm outside Elk Valley. Ida's responsibilities on the farm and her father's insistence that she c, make fulfilling both sets of responsibilities a challenge.

The Elk Valley Schoolhouse

This is the setting for much of the narrative's action, the departure of the original teacher (Miss Fletcher) setting the stage and/or triggering the book's main plot / narrative line - fourteen-year-old Ida's taking on the responsibilities of teaching.

The Year End Exams

The scheduled exams at the end of the school year are important to all the students, but particular to Ida and Tom, whose future...