Book: Fish in a Tree

The title appealed to me, but as a person who has read hundreds of middle-grade fiction offerings, I knew what this book was going to be about - another book that portrays a person with disabilities as the victim of bullying.  That's a saturated topic these days - almost trendy even - so I'm not always excited to read more of the same.

I get it.  People who are different get picked on for their differences.

But I also understand that we are each different, and that means we all get bullied.

We deal with problems of this type in education every year, so anytime I can find good literature to help, I am eager to use it.

At the same time, I am always skeptical.  It seems that for every 20 books with this theme, 19 of them are preachy. 

Thankfully, author Lynda Mullaly Hunt does not preach to us and make us feel guilty for not having dyslexia as her main character does.  In fact, I had a pretty good picture of a student that fit the mold of this main character.  I was also looking carefully at the example being set by her new teacher Mr. Daniels.  I liked the way he calmly handled situations and quietly made Ally feel like a champion.

I did feel like Ally and her friends had some pretty mature conversation styles, though - uncharacteristic vocabulary phrasing, and style for children their age.  Because of this, I was constantly reminded that they were being manipulated by an adult author.

Surprisingly, I got into this story, and I was able to find reality inside of their dialogue.

From the author's website:

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.”
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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.

There were some loose ends that I was longing to get tied up.  For example, I wonder what happens to the bully at the end.  Even if I don't like sequels and book series, I could easily see her becoming an interesting main character in another Lynda Mullaly Hunt novel.  I wish Mr. Daniels had dealt with the bully in Fish in a Tree with the same compassion he used with Ally.  Instead, he seems to blow her to the side as he dangerously leans toward showing favoritism to Ally.

I recommend this book for students in my class to read, and I'd be interested in hearing their opinions.