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. |
Four words, and only the first is a fact; the rest are what a child does with it. Dyslexia is a difference that makes reading hard, and Ally’s is undiagnosed, which is why the letters seem to move. To disguise is to hide the true nature of something, and Ally disguises her struggle by acting up — a strategy that works, in the sense that nobody finds out. To humiliate is to make someone feel ashamed, and the card mistake does exactly that. Impossible means not able to happen or be done, and Ally’s sketchbook is full of impossible things. Notice which word she owns. Three of them are done to her or forced on her; the fourth is the one she draws in, and it is the only place she is ever free.
ⓘ 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.
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. Hunt puts that fact in front of the reader before Ally knows it, and the gap is the engine of the book. Part 1 shows a clever girl doing clever things, and every adult reads the behavior as trouble — because nobody has thought to ask why a bright child would rather sit in the principal’s office than read a page.
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.
- SATCentral Ideas — the main point of the passage as a whole
- TOEFLFactual Information — a fact stated directly in the passage
- SATDetail — a fact the passage states directly
- TOEFLNegative Factual — which statement is NOT supported by the passage
- SATWords in Context — what a word means the way this passage uses it
- SATText Connections — how two texts, or two parts of one text, speak to each other
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.
Here are your auto-graded results:
The best last step is to teach it. In your own words, explain what happened — retell a favorite scene, teach a character’s big choice, or sum up the main idea for a parent, friend, or classmate. When you can teach it clearly, you truly own it.
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.