Add your review
Avg. Rating: 5
A book to get your dander up and cheer for a courageous girl
I met Anne Hobbs Purdy in Junior High School. Her story captured my imagination and still does to this day. I have read Tisha many times and every reading captures my heart. Her courage to stand for what she believed to be right in the face of opposition, is a lesson that carries through almost 80 years later. Alaska, seen through her eyes, is a place of incredible beauty and harsh reality. Even though I wanted to crawl into the pages and do battle with some of the characters, they also earned my grudging respect. Anne's will power, strength of heart, and sheer determination to do what she knew was right, made her a formidable force. The book I own is a treasured possession, signed for my father. She writes, "Happy landings from the Land of the Midnite Sun, Yellow Gold, and Determined mosquitoes." A must read book!
Tisha: The Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaska Wilderness
Set in the wilderness of Alaska in 1927, our heroin Anne Hobbs takes us through the adventure of being a young, open-minded female schoolteacher in the mining settlement of Chicken.Anne arrives in Chicken to find the schoolhouse a shambles and barely any materials to teach with. Through the support of the community she is able to create living quarters and get her classroom in order. Being the newcomer and softhearted type, Anne opened her classroom to more than white children. Anne soon learns that the community isn't receptive to her way of thinking but they can't deny she is a good teacher and that Chicken is very lucky to have her. Anne takes us through her struggles and triumphs as her year in Chicken slowly goes by. We always are aware of the weather, surroundings, people, and her classroom accomplishments. Every twist and turn this story takes, you will find yourself wanting to reach the end. This book was my favorite when I was a little girl and continues to be today. I remember how addicted I got to the storyline and how much I wanted to know how Anne was going to survive her first year teaching in Alaska. Most importantly, we can't overlook the year in which this happened, 1927, where it happened, Alaska, and how open Anne was to the idea of school integration. It amazes me that she didn't want to deny any child or adult an education regardless of race. This is the part of the book that I found the saddest and felt the proudest. I was saddened by the way the white settlers treated and thought about the native people. I was proud of Anne for standing up for what she believed in and that was equality. Tisha will always have a special place in my personal library and Anne Hobbs my personal role model.
Auntie Anne
This is a great account of how early life in Alaska truly was. My father mined with Fred Purdy from the late 30's till the war broke out and he enlisted. After he married my Mother they moved back to Chicken and my Mother became a close friend to Anne. While Fred and Anne adopted other children over the years they always had a house full of everyone else's children too, a sign of their loving and open nature. The flavor of this book reflects the bias of the "Outsiders" to the local natives that still runs uneasily under a more modern and progressive time.
Review this book
|
