Palate Cleanser 2.0

August 23, 2019

Raise your hand if you get drained by drama? Let me see those arms raised tall and proud! People, I feel you.

Now, I get drawn into a dramatic moment. Don’t get me wrong. I like my Law and Order: SVU (Mariska Hargitay is a FIERCE female—can I get an amen?!), and I’ve read The Fault in Our Stars. (Side note: If you love John Green, you HAVE to check out Turtles All the Way Down. I actually think it’s his best book.) I get into the drama of it just like we all do.

But I also feel run down after awhile of immersing myself in that kind of emotional turmoil. For example, I had read two novels back to back that were both wonderful but also tumultuous. I was about to pick up another YA novel that dealt with a serious issue, but I felt myself pulling back. I could sense the emotional exhaustion creeping into my body.

So I put that book back on the shelf, and I grabbed Fish in a Tree.

I know I’ve already written a review about this book (see link above), but I can’t say enough about what this book represents– triumph, positivity, hard work, big hearts. These are all themes that WE, humanity, need in our life.

For most of my reads, the protagonist is dealing with something heavy, the weight of which I feel at times. Fish in a Tree, however, has a student, Ally, dealing with dyslexia and friendship troubles. Yes, those are heavy in their own way, but it opened my eyes to the struggles and fights that are more “ordinary” or those that may be flying under my radar, even as a teacher (which might be hard for me to admit).

It was refreshing to read something so true and vulnerable and yet palatable.

Hunt instilled humor in the best places. When Ally had a tough day at school, one that may result in some anger in the reader, she made sure to liven it up a bit. I laughed out loud with Ally’s quick responses to her mother:

“‘So,’ she begins. ‘When are we going to really talk about today?’

‘On my ninety-fifth birthday'” (Hunt 27).

Come on! Picture a little 6th grader using that retort with her mother. I giggled. Because, it’s true, kids say the GREATEST things sometimes.

Then there were moments of truth that blew me away:

“I guess maybe ‘I’m having trouble’ is not the same as ‘I can’t'” (Hunt 197).

MY PEOPLE! How great is that? That is a realization that we are constantly trying to teach ourselves… stop saying “I can’t” and reach out when you need help. Oy. I had chills when I read that line. Here’s a character battling an inner conflict that has caused an external one, but she is working at it and growing, growing deeply.

This book makes me want to shout out loud, dance around a room with joy, and then shove it in EVERYONE’S face!! It rejuvenated me and made me ready to dive into something that was maybe a bit more heavy.

(I also LOVE to nerd out about books in front of my students and my family and random strangers in bookstores because I think it can be infectious… and hopefully not annoying.)

I got my copy at Twenty Stories, which is located 107 Ives St. Providence, RI. It’s one of my favorite places in the city as it just BURSTS with literature of all types, and it instantly instills a calmness and a need to read when you enter it.

Anyway, to my readers, whoever you are, I feel like this post is a little bit all over the place; nevertheless, I wrote it, and I hope it just pours forth my joy of YA and Fish in a Tree. Go read this freaking amazing book and cheer for Ally. Keisha. Albert. All the Fantasticos.