Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Some books just hit like a punch to the jaw. I mean that in a good way. As a kid, I had several things that might be termed learning differences but nothing that could really be called a learning disability. (I suspect that if I were going through school now I'd have a dysgraphia diagnosis but that's it.) So, I don't know what it's like to be dyslexic. I'll be the first to admit that. Often when I'm working with dyslexic students I end up feeling very frustrated for them because I have no idea what they are experiencing.

I do know what it's like, though, to try and try and feel like nothing makes it better. I'm unusually kinesthetic as a learner. If I can feel it, touch it, draw it, or manipulate it then I can learn it. Everyone is a little kinesthetic (or visual or auditory), but I've met very few people as kinesthetic as I am. Early math, when I went through school, was all verbal drilling and big tables. Auditory and Visual are much weaker for me. It's not that I can't learn that way. I totally can. But at 6, 7 and 8 years old, I would have been much better off copying out by hand or putting beads in manipulatives tray to learn the multiplications table than trying to memorize it by drilling it verbally. By the time I was to math where everyone had to drill by copying out equations, I spent so much time trying to remember basic arithmetic that I couldn't follow along with other concepts. Of course, I say that, but writing by hand was physically painful too, which led to a lot of different problems . . .such as homework completion.

*shrug* The point is, I know what it is to feel dumb, even though I'm not.

So as a teacher and as a former smart dummy, Fish in a Tree made an impact. The main character, Ally, is an undiagnosed dyslexic who, as an army brat, slid under the radar by acting out instead of admitting she needs help. Most of her teachers didn't even get her for a whole year as she bounced from school to school. Eventually she lucks into the right teacher: Mr. Daniels.

I could only hope to be that good a teacher.