Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Trigger Warnings: learning disability, bullying
Synopsis
"Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.”
Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her—and to everyone—than a label, and that great minds don’t always think alike.
Review
I actually picked up Lynda Mullaly Hunt's Fish in a Tree because one of my little cousins read it in his fourth grade Language Arts class. He has trouble reading and really enjoyed the book, and since I plan on teaching fourth or fifth grade, I ended up reading it, also to get a perspective on children who struggle with reading and writing.Overall, the book was okay, partially because I am older than the intended audience. While the main character, Ally, does seem immature for a sixth grader, she does seem perfect in maturity for the middle grade audience of this book. Her issues were real and also portray how often students who struggle academically tend to act up in a classroom setting so that they do not get pointed out. It seemed like a fairly reasonable premise to me.
The character interactions and how cute the kids were is what sold this interaction to me. Are they a little stereotypical? Sure, but that's okay, especially in a book like this, which is more about teaching that we have weaknesses and strengths and that it is okay not to be perfect. The kids that are a little different in the classroom all help each other, and it's really a feel-good type of book. Every kid has different things that they are really good at, from art to baking to science. Many of them stand up for one another and begin to support them within some of the things that they struggle with.
My biggest problem is that the entire time Ally and Mr. Daniels were alone together, particularly once she starts staying after school, is that I kept thinking that this book could never be set now. Not because her difficulties should have been caught by then (I know kids older than her who can barely read) but because of accusations about what exactly a male teacher could do when all alone with a female student. Thinking this made me really uncomfortable, and I wish either this had been changed or the setting of the story should have more clearly defined the timeline.
Honestly, all I really have to say about this book that it was okay, but I could definitely see how good this book would be for younger audiences. It is a little long for some of those audiences, but it contains many lessons that would be important in these grades to establish a classroom setting in which students will be able to succeed.
I definitely would have loved to have read this when I was younger. Talking to my cousin about it, he enjoyed the book. He has some reading struggles and told me that he liked it. It is the first time that I have done something like this, reading a book from my cousin enjoying it.
Is there anyone in your life who has given you some good reading recommendations?
Thanks for reading!
Alyssa
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