Fish in a Tree

Title: Fish in a Tree

Author: Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Pages: 276

Grade Level: 5&6th

Lexile Level: 550L

           I’ve been putting off writing the review for this book for several reasons. The biggest reason is that it’s difficult to describe this book to you in a coherent manner.  It’s a one of those books that moves you deeply. You should order it from the library.  Purchase it from a bookstore. Or borrow it from a friend immediately.  It’s a must read book.  If you are a teacher, you need to read it right away!  

          That said, the book is not written from a Christian perspective. It has things in the book that ideally would have been left out of the book. It’s honestly written about a middle school classroom in a public school.  There’s some bullying and bit of he likes her etc. However, I still think that you should read this book.

           Fish in a Tree is written about a girl named Ally. Ally has managed to make it to sixth grade without learning to read.  Now, she is a smart kid. She is adept at hiding that she can’t read.  She hides this secret by acting out. She is frequently at odds with her teachers and is often sent to the principal’s office.  She is ashamed of her inability to read, so she doesn’t let anyone close.  She doesn’t like the other kids and works to stay at odds with them. The other kids don’t like her either.

         This attitude begins to change when a new teacher, Mr. Daniels, is assigned their classroom. He is cool, hip and pretty amazing. He is also perceptive and soon realizes that more is going on with Ally than meets the eye. He pulls out her talents, makes her feel special and shows her she has things to offer her classmates. He discovers that she cannot read. Together they embark on a journey to teach her how to read.

           Slowly, Ally begins to change. She starts believing that she has talents and that makes her valuable. She starts making friends with her classmates. The book is written about a typical public school classroom, so kids are nasty to her.  Through these nasty situation she learns positive ways to approach them. As well as a few not so positive ways to approach them. As she learns these lessons, she learns to care deeply about people.  Most importantly she learns that things are possible.  Anything is possible.

            I’m totally and completely not doing this book justice. I’ve purposely been rather vague about details. I want you to discover this book for yourself.  So I’m going to abruptly finish by saying: Just go read the book.