Fish In A Tree

fiatThe title for the book Fish In A Tree was inspired by the following quote.

“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.” –Albert Einstein

What do you think this means?  How does this relate to the book?

18 thoughts on “Fish In A Tree

  1. The quote relates to the book by how it says,if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.and it relates to the story how it is called fish in a tree and how a girl named ally is odd and has a disability called dyslexia and doesn’t fit in and gets bullied. Its like when there’s a fish in a tree and a bird in the water.

    I also have a quote, if you think you’re the worst you might be the best,and if you think you’re the best you might be the worst so just be your self.

    • I think you have an interesting connection to another quote. I wonder if Ally should just be herself instead of being so worried about being “smart” or “dumb.”

  2. Fish in a tree is different, because fish don’t go into trees, it’s about a girl named Ally who has a disability called dyslexia, it’s where you have a hard time reading and the words can get all scrambled up. In this book Ally’s teacher is having a baby, and Ally finds a card at a store with yellow flowers on it, she doesn’t know it’s a sympothy card so she gives it to her teacher because her teacher is leaving, so she gives it to her teacher. Ally is also bullied, by a girl named Shay (the mean girl) and what Ally calls Shay’s shadow, a girl named Jessica, because Jessica follows Shay around and will do what she does, that’s why she calls her that. Ally’s mom works at a restaurant where Ally goes after school. Fish in a tree is like bird in the water, it’s something that is different, maybe when the birds all fly away the fish is left alone. That’s my opinion. I can not wait to see what else you blog about.

  3. I think that this quote is very interesting. I have never heard it but and it really relates to the story. Everyone in the story judges Ally by her reading,writing and academic skills. They don’t judge her by her art which is what really what matters to her, it’s what she values. I think that the quote really stands for that because fish don’t climb trees, they swim. Also, the title is a fish in a tree which sounds related to the quote. I think that the quote means that you can’t be judged on how you look, how well you read, how well you write. But you can be judged or thought of on what you value . I would like to be judged on what I’m good at or what I work hard on. This is my opinion for the questions.

    • Super_Potato5, I never thought of it that way and when I read your comment I really understood what your opinion was, and I fully agree with you. I read that comment, thought wow! I would also like to be judged on what I am good at, and what I most enjoy, not the things that I can’t do.

      Also I don’t think Ally knows she has dyslexia because it wouldn’t make sense that the teachers send her to the principles office every time she didn’t write.

      Does her mom know she has dyslexia, because it seems like she would have gotten Ally tested some time in her life because she is already in 6th grade.

      Does anybody know if they know she has dyslexia, tell me your opinion.

      Thank You for reading this comment!

      • I agree with both of you and I do not know if she or her family knows she has dyslexia. And yes I do think she would get tested for that kind of stuff. I would also want to be judged on what I am good at and not what I’m bad at and work on the things I am bad at. You both have very good opinions.

  4. Me personally I have never heard this quote before, but what I think this quote means is that a kid should not be judged on what his or her actions are. And also I like everybody’s answers, they are really good.

  5. I think the quote relates to the book because fish physically can’t climb a tree and ally the girl can’t really write of read because she has dyslexia and her brain mixes the letters in her brain so people shouldn’t make fun of her for that because it is a problem and they should not make fun of her for that because it is some times uncomfortable to talk about.

  6. The quote really relates to the book. I think this quote means that if you focus on what you don’t do well then you will always believe that you are not good at anything, but if you focus on what you do do well and that you love (in Ali’s case that’s here art), you will believe you do have something you are good at.

    So, in Ali’s case, she loves to draw. She has a big sketch book of things that can never be real, but she always focuses on the things she is not good at, reading, writing and a lot of school related stuff. She is good at math and she used to like it but now there is papers and words like “What does X equal?”

    How this quote relates to the book is that Ali thinks she is stupid because she focuses on what she isn’t good at and believes she is stupid. And if a fish focuses on how well she/he can climb a tree and not what he/she is really good at (swimming) she/he will think he/she is stupid. If everyone just focuses on what they are great at and not what they are bad at, it won’t be as hard for people. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try your hardest on what is hard for you but not just focus on what your bad at and focus more on what you are great at.

  7. This quote is like no other, in some ways it doesn’t make any sense and in other ways it does, and i think this relates to the story because i feel like Ally feels helpless and a fish in a tree sounds pretty helpless to me.

  8. I think that this is a good quote.That has a good meaning.Fish can climb but they normally don’t but if they do they will feel dumb and to different and they will want to be with the other fish but they cant get down and Ally Nickerson IS THAT FISH

    • cat_with_an_orange_hat,
      I also think that the book is called Fish in a Tree because everyone is so called normal, and she has dyslexia so she is so called different. I can agree that Ally is that Fish.
      Thank You For reading my comment, if you have an opinion tell me, I like to know what everyone thinks.
      -dog_with_a_blog

  9. The book Fish in a Tree is a book about a girl named Ally Nickerson who has a problem reading and writing. Her teacher Mrs Hull was having a baby and Ally found a card for her. She got distracted by the pretty flowers on the front of the card, she forgot to look inside and Mrs Hull opened the card and it said I’m sorry for your lost. All the kids made fun of her because of it . A new teacher came in when Mrs Hull was home with her baby. The teacher helped Ally when two girls named Shay and Jessica made fun of her when she introduced herself to the teacher. Ally’s mom doesnt get why Ally acts so weird when it comes to reading and writing.

    I think Ally’s mom knows that Ally has dyslexia but she doesn’t get it.

    • i agree,i wonder if ali’s mom knows she is dislexic,i hope we find out soon she seems alot more confident getting later in the book i think its her new teacher mr daniels,i like this book alot!!!!

  10. I also think ally’s mom knows that shes dyslexic but i’m not quit sure if Ally knows that she is dyslexic. I agree dog_with_a_blog and cat_with_an_orange_hat…… because i also think that she is the fish. thanks I.kitt

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