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Reviews
Tisha: The Wonderful True Love Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness by Robert Specht
angewalton's review
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
jamie_o's review against another edition
5.0
New favorite! It's a smashing good true story. It's about Anne Hobbs (Tisha is what some of the Indians called her, it's how they pronounced teacher) and the year she spent teaching in the remote settlement of Chicken, Alaska in the 1920's. It is unputdownable - there's adventure, suspense, a bit of romance, and an unbelievable dogsled chase that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
One of the main things that plagued Anne during her year in Chicken was something she didn't expect, the prejudice of the Whites toward Indians and Eskimos, and half-breeds as they were called. Anne, who was kind and good-hearted, welcomed children of all ethnicities into her classroom and befriended half-Eskimo Fred Purdy who also became her love interest. Because of this, she was repeatedly threatened and faced the wrath of the townspeople. Anne didn't portray them as one-dimensional villains but where their prejudice was concerned, they.were.brutal. To top it off, she then took in two orphaned half Indian children. Though she experienced struggles, she also had many joyful times and was a changed woman by the end of that year.
I loved the beautiful yet harsh Alaskan bush setting:
"Now I realized what the North was really like. It was made for winter, because winter was when everything went on. You could ski any place you wanted to and get there twice as fast and twice as easily as you could before there was snow."
"His arm slipped around my waist, and like the first time we danced that waltz together the walls of the schoolroom moved right back and everybody disappeared. Even the music didn't sound the same. To me it wasn't an old scratchy record playing an old-fashioned waltz, but Paul Whiteman's full orchestra."
One of the main things that plagued Anne during her year in Chicken was something she didn't expect, the prejudice of the Whites toward Indians and Eskimos, and half-breeds as they were called. Anne, who was kind and good-hearted, welcomed children of all ethnicities into her classroom and befriended half-Eskimo Fred Purdy who also became her love interest. Because of this, she was repeatedly threatened and faced the wrath of the townspeople. Anne didn't portray them as one-dimensional villains but where their prejudice was concerned, they.were.brutal. To top it off, she then took in two orphaned half Indian children. Though she experienced struggles, she also had many joyful times and was a changed woman by the end of that year.
I loved the beautiful yet harsh Alaskan bush setting:
"Now I realized what the North was really like. It was made for winter, because winter was when everything went on. You could ski any place you wanted to and get there twice as fast and twice as easily as you could before there was snow."
"His arm slipped around my waist, and like the first time we danced that waltz together the walls of the schoolroom moved right back and everybody disappeared. Even the music didn't sound the same. To me it wasn't an old scratchy record playing an old-fashioned waltz, but Paul Whiteman's full orchestra."
deannah's review
4.0
The true story of a 19 year-old teacher who spends a year teaching in the Alaskan bush. It has a similar feel to "Christy" and "Mrs. Mike." Both of which I love. I was impressed by the girl's open-mindedness as well as grit in dealing with a challenging environment, especially give the time period (1920's).
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