Why Don't You Give the Kid a Break? Book Review of Fish in a Tree

 

Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt


Thank you to Bucks County Free Library for making Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt free and readily accessible to the public.

The last thing Ally Nickerson wants anyone to know is that she’s not lazy--she’s actually doing her best job on her school work.

Ally would rather fall through the floor than admit that she can’t read. She already feels stupid and her classmates laugh at her and act as though she’s stupid. She gets sent to the principal’s office so often she’s no longer a guest but part of the office cast. She doesn’t want to add anything else to her mother’s already full plate--or tray, as it were, since her mother waits tables while her father is on active duty in the military.

Ally is ready to give up on anything good happening in sixth grade until Mr. Daniels becomes the class’s teacher and she begins to think maybe school does not have to be absolute misery.

Fish in a Tree feels heartbreakingly familiar. Ally’s compensations, the frustration of her teacher, and the helplessness of her mother are common responses to undiagnosed learning differences. Reading the story from Ally’s point of view highlights the assumptions we make about children’s behavior as well as the challenges of a classroom teacher to recognize when a child is struggling and know how to help.

I am interested in how Hunt creates Ally as a believable character. She describes what Ally sees when she reads and describes it clearly enough that it feels authentic. While many books touch on the problem of adults being unaware of much of what a child thinks and feels, Fish in a Tree shows this disparity while not making Ally into a victim of adult obliviousness. It does not feel melodramatic, like Ally is a tragic character who needs to be saved, because Ally has attitude and humor, is exceptionally bright, and has found ways to cope with her situation, like the hilarious Book of Impossible Things in which she draws different pictures that her mind has created. The adults in the book are not villains, either, they are simply limited by their own perceptions, and in the case of Ally’s first teacher, their need to create an orderly environment in which students can be taught and kept safe.

I enjoyed reading Fish in a Tree and it had a big impact on my attitude towards teaching. A mentor once told me, “When a child acts out, there is some need they have that is not being fulfilled.” Hunt reinforces this message and reminds adults that patience, understanding, and willingness to be creative is just as important as content knowledge in teaching. While Fish in a Tree is a middle-grade book, I recommend it for adults as well as children.

Would I teach this book? I would absolutely teach Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. One of the most important aspects of reading fiction is growing empathy, and Fish in a Tree provides the experience of a kid who on the outside is a troublemaker, but on the inside is kind and witty. She is talented in ways that traditional schooling does not always recognize and it is fun to live inside her brain as she tells her story. I can see it being a good read for an education class, as well.

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