Tisha is the story of Anne Hobbs, who went to Alaska to teach in 1927 at the age of nineteen. Throughout the book she changes and matures greatly as a result of the conflicts with the people of Chicken. The story begins when she is leaving Eagle, which is in Alaska, and going to Chicken, a smaller settlement, where she was going to teach for one year, then go back to Eagle to teach. She goes with a pack train, led by a man named Mr. Strong, that also is taking the mail to Chicken. Set out for a four day trip, Anne was excited to set off on this adventure, and she was eager to see all the landscape that awaited her. She was a bit anxious though, for she was to ride atop a horse, Blossom, which towered over her and was very intimidating. Little did she know how tiring a four day trip would be through the wilderness though.
Since it was a sunny day, Anne had started out with but a jacket on, as she had not accepted the coat Mr. Strong had offered her earlier. At first the trail was nice, but after some time she found out that it would have been better if she had taken Mr. Strong's coat. Suddenly the sun had gone and it got cold quickly. Thankfully, Mr. Strong came riding to the back to the pack train, where Anne was, and handed her the coat. Things didn't get to much better from there. Riding the horse for such a long time proved to be very tiring, and Anne couldn't enjoy the scenery for such a long time anymore for she was so tired. They went on, though, with stops in small towns ad settlements. At one stop, Steel Creek, there was a mother who asked Anne if her daughter, Nancy, who was 13 years old, could go in a few weeks to join Anne and live with her in order that she could learn to read, which she didn't know how to very well, so that she could pass the 8th grade examination and enter high school. She also offered to pay. Anne wasn't sure at first, but then said yes, that she could come. Another stop the pack train made was at an Indian village. A very poor and old Indian village though. There Anne made a friend, Cathy Winters, a fellow teacher who was close to Anne's own age. Also, there they picked up a little half-Indian boy, Chuck, who was to go with the pack train to Chicken where his mother lived nearby. Anne was friendly to this boy, and when he couldn't stay on his donkey, she let him ride on her horse with her.
Finally Anne Hobbs arrived in Chicken, Alaska. When she arrived everyone was kind to her. The schoolhouse she was to teach in had her living quarters as one half of the building.
(The picture is the actual schoolhouse)When Anne got there, however, the place wasn't ready; there was no mattress, chairs, stove, etc. So one of the ladies who showed her her home made an announcement to the people that Anne needed some things, and everyone was so kind that they brought pretty much everything she needed. The next morning a small Eskimo woman and her half-Eskimo son, who was about Anne's age, cam to say welcome to her, and it was agreed upon that the lady's son, Fred, would help clean up the schoolroom, for that too was in need of some fixing up. So the next few days Fred helped fix up the schoolhouse and paint the schoolroom and during that time he became friends with Anne.
Then it was the first day of school. Anne was nervous at first, but after the day had gone by and Fred came over to ask her how it went, she said she was feeling optimistic about it.
Shortly after school began, the first problem arose. An Indian lady, Rebekah, with her 5, almost 6-year old half-Inidan daughter(the father being white) came to the school on day asking if her daughter, Lily could attend school, and she with her because Lily was afraid to be by herself. Anne said this was fine. But after the first day they came the three adults who were on the school board requested a meeting, and at the meeting they didn't like the idea of the indian lady and Lily coming to school, and all voted them out. Sadly, the next day, Anne had to tell the lady that she and Lily couldn't come to school. She understood. The next day, Rebekah's husband, Jake, came in, a mad look on his face. He asked Anne, and she said she had no objections to Rebekah and Lily attending school, so he went next door to Mr. Vaughn's house. Mr. Vaughn was the person who was most strongly objected to their coming to school. Anne and the whole class heard as Jake cussed and swore at Mr. Vaughn. Then Jake returned, calmly saying that Rebekah and Lily could attend school.
Then the school worked on a project to make a large map of chicken. And all was going well, until Chuck came to school. It was Chuck who couldn't speak very well and called her Tisha instead of Teacher. Anne liked him, but being half-Indian the other kids didn't take to him very well, and were mean to him. The day after that, half the class didn't show up because their parents hadn't allowed them to go to school because of this. And there was another school board meeting, again with the people not very happy.
They didn't want Chuck to go to school, but Anne finally gathered some courage and made the argument that they don't have enough enrollment, which is ten students, without Chuck. She said she would have to leave if they couldn't go to school. They were infuriated, but she got her way.
School continued, and Anne went to Fred's house for dinner and met his family, and they had a good time.
Chuck lived with his younger sister, Ethel, and his mother, Mary Angus in a desperately poor little cabin. Their father, Joe Temple and left Mary a few years ago and didn't care a thing about them. Chuck had been so dirty from living in that little cabin in the poorest conditions that Anne bought him new clothes and with some persuasion, gave him a bath.
Another little trouble came. When the pack train came with the mail, it was a big day. So Anne let the class out at noon to go wait for the pack train. While they were waiting, they played baseball and the baseball hit Mr. Vaughn's door as he came out. Looking for any reason to pick on Anne because he diliked her, he asked her why she let the class out. She explained why, saying that she didn't wee anything wrong with it. He said that she probably didn't see anything wrong with playing with the class like a wild Indian, and asked someone else, who also disliked her, if she had ever seen a teacher playing with the class. That person said no. He said a few more mean things, and said if she says another thing he'll smack her. Then Fred started leading her away, and Mr. Vaughn sarcastically said, "...I was just getting ready to take you over my knee." Fred stepped up then, bat in hand, telling Mr. Vaughn he'd better not do anything, and he didn't, since Fred had a bat. And it was over.
After that Nancy came, and was very helpul with chores and the such at first, then she started to get lazy. Then things between Anne and Nancy got worse and worse, until one argument, where Nancy says to Anne that Nancy's mother isn't paying her to make Nancy do chores. Anne tells Nancy that her mother isnt paying anything, that Anne had said that it was alright not to pay. Nancy was shocked, and from that moment on became much nicer and kinder, and worked harder than ever.
One day Anne and Fred went skijoring, which is like skiing except you're being pulled by a pack of dogs, it's like waterskiing. Anne had trouble with it, so Fred made an extra pair of straps on his skis so than Anne could rid with him. The next day they went together and had a wonderful time. Anne really liked Fred, and was really fond of him.
Pretty soon the people could tell that Anne liked Fred, and they didn't like it, since Fred was half Eskimo. Even Fred's mother, who worried about the reputation of her family, asked Anne not to like him, but Anne couldn't agree to that.
Then a visitor came, Cabaret Jackson, a man who had proposed to Anne at the dance in Eagle, but whom Anne had rejected. There was a dance in Chicken, then a dinner, which Anne got to have with Fred. The people had gotten Cab all riled up and mad about Fred, telling him rumors and more. And what's more, he was drunk. So when Fred and Anne tried to leave, he wouldn't let them, and he punched, Fred, but Fred didn't fight back and then Fred took Anne to her home.
The next day Anne was informed that Fred had left for a short while. Christmas Break was comeing up, adn Anne got a letter from Cathy Winters that she could come to the Indian village during the break. Then Fred came back and told her that he'd be at Steel Creek until June, which was when Anne would be leaving. She realized this was so that the people wouldn't be mad her for loving Fred, and she protested, but he said he was going. And he left. Then Anne Went to the Indian village.. She learned a lot about why the village was so poor, and how the people were weakened by white man's food- flour and crackers, etc, instead of strengthened by meat.
After she came back to Chicken she wrote a letter to Fred saying that he could come back, and they could just act as friends, and wouldn't have to see each other. It was sad. But a few weeks later Fred came back, but as she promised, Anned didn't go to see him.
Then something horrible happened. Chuck and Ethel's mother died. Anne took the children, and then asked their father if she could adopt them. He said it was fine, he didn't care, but he warned her that she'd be having a lot of trouble and a lot of people will be very angry with her. And so it was. People were infuriated. They all expected Anne to return them to the Indian village, but shed didn't, she kept them.
When Nancy's mother found out about this, she ordered that Nancy be sent home. So Nancy, who was now like a sister to Anne, went home.
One day after school, as Anne was giving something to someone in the store, she heard Cab, who had come back, run off with his sled, with Chuck and Ethel in it. She tried to stop him, but it was to late. Anne was crushed; she didn't know what to do. Then she got an idea. She ran to Fred's house and told him about it, and asked if he would take his sled and go with her to catch Cab, because Maggie, one of the ladies in the settlement, told her that Cab will take the children to the Indian village where he'll probably tell the people that if they let anyone have the children(meaning Anne), they'll be sure to stop getting supplies. So it was urgent that Nancy catch Cab before he got there. Fred agreed to it and before they left, they stopped at Maggie's roadhouse and Maggie asked Fred to be on the lookout for her daughter and her her daughter's husband and their child, who had left recently but Maggie hadn't gotten word from them and was worried. So then Anne and Fred left with a week's provision of food.
On and on they went with the chase until, finally, they caught Cab, and after Fred, who didn't want to fight, beat up Cab, they were friendly and Anne got to keep Chuck and Ethel. They started heading back, but a horrible snowstorm came upon them, and as they were searching for a particular cabin, they found a horrifying sight.
In a hole through some ice, they saw Jeannette, Maggie's daughter and her husband. Sadly, as Jeanette's husband tried to get out he had frozen to death, but Jeanette and her baby were alive. They rescued Jeanette, who's foot and frozen solid, and Fred left to take her by sled to the nearest hospital, which was a few days away while Anne, Chuck, Ethel, and Jeanette's baby stayed in the empty cabin they had finally found. After a few days, Mr. Strong, who had been left word that Anne was there, came and took Anne and everyone back to Chicken, where Maggie was relieved that Jeanette and the baby were alive, but very worried for Jeannette. Then they got news that Jeanette will be OK, and from then on people weren't as mean to Anne.
Then the end of the school year came, and Nancy came back to take the 8th grade examination. She passed, and there was a huge going away party for Anne since she was leaving. Everyone was grateful for Anne that she had taught, and now there wasn't going to be a school there for not enough enrollment. Anne and Fred go outside by themselves, where they promised to get married someday when Fred has enough money.
I ends with her writing about 40-45 years later(1975), saying that ten years later than that Anne and Fred had gotten married, and they had adopted several more children. She says that, "I know that the sun would never have shone as brightly for me, nor children's smiles seemed so lovely, had I spent those years without Fred." 
