Welcome to Mehr's Corner on the Luna blog. Mehr is a fourteen year old who loves to read. She has been a frequent visitor to Luna ever since we opened two years ago and we always love to see her. Mehr is interning at Luna during her summer break and is helping us with a bunch of things around the bookshop, including writing about books (like the one below) that she has read and would recommend to young readers. She enjoys an eclectic range of books - some of her favourite authors are Neil Gaiman, Ann Patchett, Ray Bradbury, Madeline Miller, David Grann, Ashley Schumacher, and JRR Tolkien.
‘A Fish In A Tree’ by Lynda Mullaly Hunt follows Ally Nickerson’s story. We get to watch Ally, as she goes from being afraid and sullen, to determined and happy as the book progresses. Ally is a talented artist, but in the sixth grade, she still can’t read, a fact she does her best to conceal, because she thinks people will assume she’s dumb (maybe she believes she’s dumb too). She longs to be ‘normal’ like everyone else in her class. But what she doesn’t see is that she’s more brilliant than most of them. When her new teacher, Mr.Daniels figures out that Ally isn’t a troublemaker like most teachers assume - that she’s actually dyslexic, creative, and not dumb at all - everything changes for Ally, and suddenly she’s eager to begin working with Mr. Daniels towards overcoming her dyslexia. She also befriends Keisha and Albert, who, like her, don’t exactly fit in with the rest of the class.
Lynda Hunt reminds us that you can’t judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, and that dealing with bullies can be like playing chess. She also reinforces that success is the result of hard work - Ally had to accept that reading would be harder for her than for any of her friends. But working with Mr. Daniels, and holding on to the belief that despite her difficulties, it was possible to read, she finds that the activity she used to dread is actually enjoyable.
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