Part 1
Ally Nickerson is a smart, funny sixth-grader hiding an enormous secret: she cannot really read or write. To her, letters shimmer and move on the page, and rather than let anyone see her struggle, she causes trouble — getting sent to the principal’s office so often that she has already been through seven schools. The disasters keep coming. At a baby shower for her pregnant teacher, Mrs. Hall, Ally hands over a card meant for a funeral instead of a celebration, and the class laughs; she was only picking the card with the prettiest flowers, unable to read the words inside. The class bully, Shay, and her follower Jessica are quick to call Ally stupid. But Ally is far from stupid. She escapes into her ‘Sketchbook of Impossible Things,’ where she draws wonders like a wheelchair that flies, and she thinks in vivid pictures. Her older brother Travis, who quietly struggles with reading too, takes her to a coin shop and teaches her that a coin’s value comes from being rare and different — a lesson Ally does not yet know how to apply to herself. Ally is drowning in silence, convinced that being different means being broken.
| Section | What you will practice |
|---|---|
| Vocabulary | Hidden-struggle words: dyslexia, disguise, humiliate, impossible, rare… |
| Literary Elements | First-person voice, the Sketchbook motif, and a secret shaping every scene |
| Cross-Curricular | What dyslexia is — a reading difference, not a lack of smarts |
| Ch. | What happens |
|---|---|
| Chapters 1–3 | The Secret and the Card — Ally hides that she cannot read by misbehaving; at the baby shower she gives a sympathy card by mistake and is laughed at, while Shay calls her stupid. |
| Chapters 4–6 | Sketchbook and Coins — Ally escapes into her drawings of impossible things; her brother Travis takes her coin shopping and shows her that value comes from being rare and different. |
In Chapters 1–6, Lynda Mullaly Hunt makes the vocabulary of “Words of a Hidden Struggle” carry the scene’s emotional weather. The word dyslexia is used as a noun meaning a difference that makes reading hard; its contextual example is: Ally’s undiagnosed dyslexia made letters move. The word disguise is used as a verb meaning to hide the true nature of; its contextual example is: She would disguise her struggle by acting up. The word humiliate is used as a verb meaning to make someone feel ashamed; its contextual example is: The card mistake seemed to humiliate her. The word impossible is used as an adjective meaning not able to happen or be done; its contextual example is: Her sketchbook was full of impossible things. Together, these meanings make “Words of a Hidden Struggle” in Fish in a Tree a study in verbal precision.
ⓘ The vocabulary words in this list are selected to help you understand and complete this workbook. Some may not appear verbatim in the original novel.
In Chapters 1–6, plot comprehension depends on locating the trigger, tracing mounting pressure, and recognizing the decisive turn. Ally Nickerson is a smart, funny sixth-grader hiding an enormous secret: she cannot really read or write. To her, letters shimmer and move on the page, and rather than let anyone see her struggle, she causes trouble — getting sent to the principal’s office so often that she has already been through seven schools. The disasters keep coming. At a baby shower for her pregnant teacher, Mrs. Hall, Ally hands over a card meant for a funeral instead of a celebration, and the class laughs; she was only picking the card with the prettiest flowers, unable to read the words inside. Seen as cause and effect, “The Girl With a Secret” becomes the opening catalyst.
- Ally escapes into her Sketchbook of Impossible Things.
- At the shower she gives Mrs. Hall a sympathy card.
- Travis teaches Ally that rare coins are the most valuable.
- Shay and Jessica call Ally stupid.
- Ally hides her reading trouble by acting up.
In Chapters 1–6, Lynda Mullaly Hunt coordinates narrator, symbol, and irony to establish the novel’s opening design. Watch Ally’s ‘Sketchbook of Impossible Things’ — the private notebook where she draws wonders like a flying wheelchair. It is the book’s central symbol , and it works two ways at once. On the surface it is Ally’s escape, the one place she feels smart and free. Deeper down, it is proof of exactly the intelligence her reading hides: a mind bursting with vision, invention, and picture-thinking. Hunt uses the Sketchbook to remind us, page after page, that the girl the school calls ‘trouble’ is actually brimming with gifts. Keep an eye on what Ally draws; her impossible things are quietly possible, and by the end the Sketchbook will become a bridge between the girl she hides and the girl she is. That authorial design makes “The Sketchbook of Impossible Things” a lesson in deliberate atmosphere.
The background lens “A Different Kind of Reader” connects different, kind, and reader to the opening choices in Fish in a Tree. Ally’s secret has a name she does not yet know: dyslexia. Dyslexia is the most common learning difference, affecting perhaps one in five people, and it has nothing to do with how smart a person is. It is a difference in how the brain processes written language — connecting letters to the sounds they make. For a person with dyslexia, reading can feel exhausting and confusing; letters may seem to swap, blur, or move, and turning print into meaning takes enormous effort. Crucially, people with dyslexia are usually of average or above-average intelligence, and many are gifted thinkers, artists, and problem-solvers. This context turns Part 1 from a private adventure into a broader question of inquiry.
Think back over the opening. A girl stares at a page where the letters will not hold still, and rather than let anyone see, she makes herself the class troublemaker — because being ‘bad’ hurts less than being ‘stupid.’ At a party she hands her kind teacher exactly the wrong card and the room laughs, and a mean girl says the word Ally most fears. But alone, she opens a sketchbook and fills it with impossible, beautiful machines, and her brother slides a rare coin across a shop counter and tells her that different is not worthless — different is precious. Ally hears the words. She just cannot yet believe they are about her.
Ally’s secret struggle has a name: dyslexia. Dyslexia is the most common learning difference in the world, thought to affect roughly one in five people to some degree. It is important to understand what it is — and what it is not. Dyslexia is a difference in the way the brain works with written language, especially in connecting letters to the sounds they stand for. For someone with dyslexia, reading does not become automatic the way it does for most people; instead it stays slow and effortful, and letters or words may seem to swap places, blur, or move on the page, exactly as they do for Ally.
What dyslexia is NOT is a sign of low intelligence — the most important fact of all, and the one Ally has never been told. People with dyslexia are usually of average or above-average intelligence, and a great many are exceptionally creative, curious, and gifted at solving problems, building things, and thinking in pictures — just as Ally is. Their difficulty is specific: turning printed symbols into meaning. Given the right kind of teaching — methods that use sound, touch, and sight together — people with dyslexia can absolutely learn to read. The tragedy in stories like Ally’s is not the dyslexia itself but the years of being misjudged as lazy or stupid before anyone understands. Learning what dyslexia really is turns Ally from a ‘problem student’ into what she has been all along: a bright girl who simply needs to be taught in the way her brain learns.
This writing task is optional and is not part of your auto-graded score. The feedback below checks only the basics — length, spelling, and grammar — not whether your ideas are right or wrong. It is meant for classroom discussion and creative practice, so feel free to use your imagination!
Writing Task — Part 1 “A Hidden Struggle”
Ally hides something hard about herself and pretends everything is fine. Write about a time you found something difficult but tried to hide it — or a time you felt misunderstood. What was the struggle, how did you cover it up, and how did it feel? 6–10 sentences. End with what you wish others had understood.
No right or wrong — close the screen and tell someone nearby what happened in this part. Can’t find anyone? Tell yourself out loud. The moment you teach it, you truly understand it.
Part 1 Complete!
You finished Chapters 1–6 of Fish in a Tree.
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Your writing was checked automatically for length, spelling, grammar, and whether you included the key parts of the scene. Scroll back to Part 5 anytime to read your feedback and improve your work.
Independent study guide by Garden Heights. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. Contains original analysis only; no text from the novel is reproduced. Reference text: This workbook follows Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s classic text (the standard Puffin edition sold worldwide). Revised 2023 UK editions change some wording and may not match the vocabulary studied here.