I loved Fish in a Tree (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2015) by Lynda Mullaly Hunt.
Poor Ally has been hiding the fact that she can’t read. Instead teachers and others think she’s disruptive. She’s often in trouble–like sent-to-the-Principal’s-office trouble. In Ally’s words, “Seven schools in seven years and they’re all the same. Whenever I do my best, they tell me I don’t try hard enough.” The other kids get tired of her, too, and call her Freak. Dumb. Loser. Even her mom doesn’t understand. But Ally can’t tell the truth.
I loved the relationships in this book: Ally and her brother Travis, Ally and her new friends, Ally and her new teacher, Ally and her “away” father. I ached for Ally and all the frustrations and misunderstandings. (Can you tell I really liked this book?!)
And after finishing the book, I loved reading about how Ally’s brother came to be in this post. To learn more, go to the author’s website.
This is author Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s second book. Hopefully, there will be many more to come.