Albert Einstein is purported to have said “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” There is no actual evidence that he said it.
This quote, regardless of its origin, is the source of the title of Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s newest book.
Although this book seems to have been given a lot of praise, I found it to be a rather mediocre “issue book”.
Ally has moved around a lot and attended a lot of schools. She has mostly learned how to hide her learning disability. When her teacher goes on maternity leave the substitute is the one teacher who can see her potential. Aside from the lifesaving teacher trope, we also encounter the brainiac, the mean snobby girl, and the encouraging friend. I also felt that, although Ally is supposed to be in 6th grade, the characters seemed younger.
So, I clearly didn’t love this book. A lot of other people do. I leave it ti you to make up your own mind.
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