By Lynda Mullaly Hunt
A bright girl who can't read has spent years hiding it behind jokes and trouble, until a new teacher works out that she's dyslexic.
Ally Nickerson is sure she's dumb. Letters won't sit still on the page, reading feels impossible, and she's figured out how to cover for it: act up, cause a scene, get sent to the principal, and move to a new school before anyone catches on. She's done it six times. Then a new teacher, Mr. Daniels, sees what the others missed. Ally isn't dumb. She's dyslexic, and she's quick and funny and good at things school never tested. The title comes from a line about how you can't measure a fish by whether it can climb a tree.
I'd hand this to a child who has started to believe that struggling with reading means they aren't smart. Ally is funny and stubborn and easy to root for, and the chapters are short with a plain, first-person voice, which keeps it reachable for the very readers most likely to see themselves in her. It reads aloud well, too, and Mr. Daniels is the kind of teacher a struggling reader hopes for.