Lying just below the surface of this book’s more explicit exploration of themes related to the ways one learns and can be taught, attaining a self-identity through high self-esteem and bullying is a more radical message that is all the stronger for not being didactically expressed. Fish in a Tree is an entertaining book with important message to convey, but it is not a “message novel.” Nevertheless, the message comes through loud and clear and what is perhaps most amazing is that this more radical theme unifies those three others which are much more clearly and distinctly delineated.
The thematic message being whispered rather than shouted throughout this book is that standardized education of American children is a failure through and through and needs to be changed. The closest this story gets to stepping up on a soapbox and clumsily trying to make a statement of Great Significance and Importance (and, just to be clear, it does not come close at all) is when Ally and the rest of her class are taken to the Noah Webster House on a field trip. This becomes a transformative moment in Ally’s life as she learns something new which directly affects her own life experience. One of those things is that Webster was not just the creator of the first American dictionary, but that this attempt to standardized usage ultimately created rules for teaching that still remain in place. Keep in mind that Webster first began publishing his dictionary when slavery was still omnipresent throughout the southern half of the United States. Her tour guide also makes a concrete connection between the celebration of Noah Webster’s accomplishments and the subsequent invention of the “dunce cap.”
Essentially, Ally walks away in tears from the Noah Webster House which can also be traced directly to the impact of Webster and, of course, a great, great many more. Ally suffers from dyslexia so that while her math skills test through the roof, she lags behind in English. The natural consequence of bullying is, of course, that she’s considered a dunce; a dummy. The truth could not be further from the truth, of course, but everything gets tied together once Webster enters the picture. The novel does not suddenly take a left turn with a direct indictment of standardization of education in American and the incalculable havoc it has wreaked, but the message, as previously indicated, is impossible to miss.
Standing like a modern day beacon of light threatening to extinguish forever the dark shadow of Webster and all those who followed who believed there is just one correct way to teach and learn is Ally’s teacher, Mr. Daniels. He is the knight in shining armor, a hero of our times. And make no mistake: it would have been ridiculously easy for the author to transform Mr. Daniels into a mere figurehead spouting political slogans like a righteous warrior for progressivism in education, but that is not the case. Like everything else in the book, the grander themes are brought down to the personal level. Ally’s teacher is not out to change the world, but he is determined to improve the lives of his students. And it is notable that in one especially glaring case, he does not even come close to succeeding.
But then, if he had, that would have been a standardized happy ending for everybody, even the jerks like Shay. Sure, eventually Shay is revealed to have reason for being a bully…but so did Noah Webster and look how things turned out for him.
