Fish in a Tree

While up in New York, we took a detour to visit with our granddaughters before heading home. Who knew that our 9-year old was such an avid reader? And she's finally at the point where she's reading the type of books that as a fifth grade teacher I enjoyed reading. Her library book, Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt was laying around. I picked it up to look at it and it wasn't too long before I was sucked in.

I think I was so easily caught up in the novel because this is the type of novel that I have written. (Mine is still in rough draft format, but it's similar in that both Fish in a Tree and my draft, working title Dear Learning Log are about kids who feel like they just don't fit in.)

The title Fish in a Tree comes from the following quote:

“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 moves from school to school and does a good job fooling her teachers into not realizing that she can't read. That is until her latest teacher goes on maternity leave and she gets a really cool substitute teacher named Mr. Daniels. Not only does he recognize what the problem is, he helps Ally to come to terms with it - and to overcome it - and she is able to accept that different doesn't always mean loser.

The first class read aloud of the entirety of my full-time teaching career was One Thing I'm Good At by Karen Lynn Williams. Same premise. In that book, Abby Dorinsky is the girl who believes she isn't good at anything - until circumstances prove her to be quite talented. There are lots of similarities - and differences - between the two novels. Fish in a Tree has the more fully developed plot. But the message is the same. Just because you're not good at school doesn't mean you're not good at anything. And it is possible to get better at doing the school thing.

Imagine having a learning disability that makes going to school torture. It's not like you can say, I won't go to school, I'll go to work... at 10 years old. You have to go to school. Every day is just one more opportunity for things to go horribly wrong. I've been witness to it, but I really cannot imagine what that must feel like. The kids who would benefit most from this book are kids who wouldn't be able to read it on their own. But books like this will always be needed - and need to be shared with some scaffolding to make Ally's story accessible to those who might benefit from hearing it most. All kids, whether they can read independently or not enjoy being read to, whether they say so or not.

My granddaughter was amazed that I was able to finish this book in one day without impacting the day I was spending with her. We still played several rounds of board games I can't even remember the names of, an overly long game of Monopoly Junior, did some art, watched a sappy movie and just hung out. I was hoping that she'd let me know what she thought of the book once she finished it. I wonder, has she finished it yet?