Customer Reviews

Tisha: The Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaska Wilderness

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For my 13 birthday I was given a copy of "Tisha". I loved it! Not just because grandfather wrote it but because it is an inspiring story. The librarian and my teacher were very surprised to find out who I am. Everyone loves this book. It was written a long time ago, but is still read by adults and their children. When people travel to Chicken Alaska they buy the book and then they write a fan letter. My grandfather died 3 years ago. I am proud of his work.

In 1927 young Anne Hobbs goes to Alaska to be a teacher and to have an adventure. Having no family left in Colorado, she seeks to do something special as her beloved grandmother predicted she would. She finds life difficult because of inclement weather and a lack of conveniences, but the biggest problem she faces is that of prejudice. She seeks to teach and befriend all of the people in the small town of Chicken, Alaska, where she lives but she soon discovers that her kindness towards Indian children raises the ire of the white people in the town. She has to face up to the local school board and the town's people before she is allowed to teach Indians in her school. As if that isn't bad enough she ends up falling in love with a "half-breed" and adopting some mixed-race children. This book is full of adventure and real insight into what it was like to live in Alaska in the 20's. It is also a triumphant story of one woman's love and her persistance in encouraging justice in her small Alaska town.

Last year (1999-2000) the teacher in my literature class made us read a book that had to do with Alaska (this being more of the state spirit they try and cultivate at school). My mom suggested Tisha, and I finished it shortly after she dug her copy off of her book shelf. The true story of a lady who went to teach in Chicken Alaska was very interesting. I learned things about the way life was in 1927 in Alaska, because now it's very different from that. The racial predjudices that some of her students face are very interesting, and I found this story captivating.

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!

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.

I bought a copy of this book which was copyrighted in 1976 and my book seems to be from the first printing. As all of the other reviews say, it is about a young girl who goes to Alaska to teach school. It is spellbinding. One thing that I thought was interesting is that on the flyleaf of my book it says that the author is writing a sequel, but apparently that never happened. I just re-read the book and saw that comment and that is the reason I got on the web to see if there was a sequel. I wish there had been on.

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.

I only bought this book as a keepsake of my tour of alaska and the yukon.
deciding to browse through it on my return home i was soon absorbed in the book yet other than my chistian magazines and the bible i never read anything.
From then on i continued the story at every chance i got. I pictured myself there with her in the situations she exsperienced she was so brave and right to stand up for what she believed.
By the time i finished the book i had been in tears several times at the lives and living conditions of the people.
an amazing book only wished i had looked for more on the same lines .But trisha is one i will never forget.

This is a fun book to read, hard to put down. I read it when I began writing a book about the first band instructor in Dillingham in the 1950s as a sort of guide. It was a GREAT read, she had some courage to go to Chicken, AK, to teach the children. While researching my book, I went to the Alaska Room at the Loussac Library in Anchorage where I got to see Tisha's actual memoirs. Wow, was I surprised at the vitriolic anti-Alaska Native commentary (even at the beginning of the text)! Wow! Robert Specht did a great job cleaning it up for the general audience. Maybe some day her actual memoirs will be published. . . In the meantime, check out some other teacher stories (including mine:
BETWEEN BREATHS: A TEACHER IN THE ALASKAN BUSH (1950s)
A Schoolteacher in Old Alaska: The Story of Hannah Breece

This is a true story of a young girl full of courage, eager for adventure, and love of humanity. Her story of the prejudicial people and the vast wilderness of Alaska are truly dramatic. We have just returned from an Alaskan trip so I can appreciate the hardship of the gold miners and others who forged a living from this land. Tisha was a special person to go teach there. I enjoyed this book and will keep it in my library.