“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.
(from: Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s website)
- Author: Lynda Mullaly Hunt
- Genre: middle-grade, realistic
- Length: 212 pages, 57k words
- My Ratings:
- Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½ 3.5/5
- Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5
- Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½ a very conflicted 3.5/5
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” -Albert Einstein
That was the first quote that came to mind when I came across this book. Curious, I clicked on it, and I’m glad I did.
Fish In A Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt is a quick standalone read, coming in at about 212 pages (57k words). It’s not the longest of books, but it’s packed with meaning and will leave you thinking about it for days.
I finished it in one sitting. While my initial impressions of Fish In A Tree were mostly positive, there are some places that… weren’t so great.
The Good
Right from the beginning, we’re introduced to our troublemaker protagonist Ally as she gives her pregnant teacher a sympathy card, which is for loved ones of someone who has passed away.
Despite her well-intentioned missteps, I found Ally very endearing and relatable, with the three-dimensional depth of someone I could really meet in real life.
Ally’s main struggle, introduced soon after the book begins, is that she struggles with reading. Miraculously, there’s no shortage of illness, injury or pranks that turn up whenever Ally has to read. Some of the things she did to escape reading out loud made me laugh.
At the same time, the troublemaker side of Ally we see is just one aspect of her personality. She’s extraordinary in her own way, being an amazing artist and math whiz with her own unique worldview.
I found watching her and her substitute teacher, Mr. Daniels, bond through the course of several after-school remedial lessons to be heartwarming. Mr. Daniels’s deep care for his students is evident in how he not only respects students but also understands them. This in turn gains him the trust of Ally’s class.
The more I read through this book, the more I found the title fitting. Ally is a fish that has been asked to climb a tree all her life – alone… until Mr. Daniels.
I want to give [Mr. Daniels] an answer, but I have both too many words and not enough.
-Ally
The Not-So-Good
One of the things that irked me most were the blatant stereotypes used. First, Ally’s Japanese classmate, Suki. She speaks in broken or stilted English for most the book. Not every Asian person speaks perfect English, of course, but there are many who speak English reasonably fluently, especially if they grew up or lived in an English-speaking country for a period of time.
Second, the mean, rich girl. Shay as a character was very one-dimensional and blatantly cruel, existing only to make jabs at Ally for the class to laugh at. There was an attempt to flesh her out more towards the end of the book, but it was too little too late for me.
Beyond the stereotypes – Ally’s brother, Travis, can’t read but is in high school. While it’s possible, I don’t understand how exactly it would work.
Final Thoughts
That said, this book is a good introduction to dyslexia and how it affects children in schools. Ally’s voice is engagingly well-written, ensuring I and other readers found it interesting to read from Ally’s perspective.
So if you’re looking for a sweet read about becoming comfortable in your own skin, Fish In A Tree is perfect for you. It’s a tad unrealistic, with more than a few stereotypes, but ultimately its message of “everyone thinks differently and that’s okay” shines through clearly.
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DISCLAIMER: All opinions expressed here are solely my own – take them with a pinch of salt. The words in this post are all written by me, apart from the author’s synopsis of the book and various quotes quoted in the review.
Please do not reproduce, copy, repost, etc. any part of this review without my permission or without crediting me. It takes time and effort to write them. Thank you!