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Elsie - Adventures Of An Arizona Schoolteacher (2011)

by Barbara Anne Waite(Favorite Author)

3.53 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Palomar Mountain Bookworks

review 1: Barbara Anne Waite and I must have some things in common because this book about her grandmother is exactly the kind of book I can see myself putting together. Elsie - Adventures of an Arizona Schoolteacher 1913-1916 is a compilation of journals, letters, and newspaper articles from a short period of time in the life of a young woman about my own age. We even read some of the same books (such as Laddie: A True Blue Story by Gene Stratton-Porter). This kind of book may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it immensely. It made me wish again that I could read the journals written by my own ancestors. But, since I don't have them, Elsie's will do for now!Every journal is a unique expression of its author's personality and priorities. By reading the daily, short entries... more of Elsie Reed Hayes -- usually no more than a few sentences -- we can see her love of family, children, education, and books. Her loyalties are strong and her love deep. No stranger to tragedy, we feel some of her pain as she loses a dear friend to a slow, lingering illness, deals with a broken off romance, and enjoys the growth of true and lasting love. Elsie is often vague, so I am thankful for the research and notes of the compiler. This is a real journal -- not a novel with detailed character descriptions or a carefully woven plot.It has inspired me to write more in my own journal and not worry so much about length or detail. Something is so much better than nothing, and every word is powerful.This is a treasure to Elsie's descendants and a worthy read for the rest of us.
review 2: I recently reviewed Tony Danza’s memoir about spending a year teaching a single grade 10 English Class. Still in her teens my own mother set out to teach 11 grades in a one-room school in rural Nova Scotia. The present memoir tells of a twenty-something young lady who leaves the luxury of Long Beach California to teach in a homesteading community in Arizona in 1913, a year after the territory attained Statehood. She taught only five grades but the neighbourhood she lived in lacked running water, electricity, and central heat. In her favour her neighbours welcomed she and her fellow teacher supplying them with accomodation, meals, and moral support. Her students were well-mannered and eager to learn. Letters home from their remote location took time and included a list of items they wanted sent on. The Sears and Roebuck Catalog gained well-worn pages. Travel in was by train, then stage coach, and even horseback. Roads?The book contains editorial comment, excerpts from Elsie’s diary, letters home, and pictures from her Kodak Brownie Camera. The details are often repetitive and mundane. How often do we need to know she did her washing--albeit in the creek, or cooked. What begins as an interesting frontier adventure becomes somewhat mundane. Which may explain why I set it down for a couple months before resuming it. In her second year of teaching she moves to a larger school in a more civilized setting. She taught through the years of WW#1 but lost friends to more prosaic things like disease and accident. This book assembled by her granddaughter. less

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