KidsPost Summer Book Club: Clever girl hides struggles in Fish in a Tree

Fish in a Tree

By Lynda Mullaly Hunt.

Ages 10 to 14.

What would you do if you were in sixth grade and couldn’t read or write as well as you thought everyone else could? Ally Nickerson has been trying to hide her struggles, but a few classmates have been teasing her a lot lately. Ally also realizes that her teachers — and even the school principal — are getting frustrated with the ways she avoids doing her schoolwork.

The narrator of "Fish in a Tree," Ally makes it clear from the start of the story that she would do the work if she could. She is clever and observant, and has been able to hide her problem. Because she's afraid there will be no solutions, Ally distracts herself with drawing and daydreaming. She also misses her dad, who is stationed overseas in the military, and her grandfather, who died recently.

When a nice new teacher, Mr. Daniels, takes over the classroom, Ally gets the feeling she is being watched more carefully and kindly. She worries that she will disappoint him, too. At the same time, she becomes friendly with two classmates who don’t seem to care what other people think of them. Will they turn away from her when they find out she has so much trouble with reading and writing?

Ally and her classmates come across as a lively group of kids. She says that Mr. Daniels, unlike some other teachers, “actually seems to like that we’re different.” You get the feeling that the author, a former teacher, enjoyed bringing the students to life as well as devising the interesting assignments Mr. Daniels gives to the class. He tries to help Ally and her classmates gain confidence so that they don’t feel, as the title says, like fish in a tree.

Click here to join the Summer Book Club.

You might also like ...

A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass, which follows a 13-year-old girl who has a condition (synesthesia) that connects words, sounds, numbers and letters to colors, making it hard to learn.

New readers might like the Here's Hank series, by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver, which takes place before their Hank Zipzer series and follows Hank as a smart second-grader with learning issues.

Next week

As Brave as You

By Jason Reynolds. Ages 10 to 14.

Brothers Genie and Ernie are forced to leave their New York City home to spend part of the summer with their grandparents in rural Virginia. The difference between the two worlds is startling, and so is realizing that their grandfather is blind. At first, Genie considers Grandpop brave because he accomplishes so much without being able to see. Then the boy realizes Grandpop stays in the house ... all the time. As he and Ernie reconsider their grandfather’s character, they face their own test of bravery.

How to join

The Summer Book Club is open to kids ages 5 to 14. Children may read some or all of the books on our list. (Find a blurb for each book here.) The first 500 kids registered will receive a drawstring book bag. To join the club, children must be registered by a parent or guardian. To register, that adult must fill out our form at wapo.st/kidspostbookclub2017 or send the child's first and last names, age and address to KidsPost Summer Book Club, The Washington Post,
1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.

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