Fish in a Tree

Fish in a Tree by Lynda Hunt

A sixth grader struggles in school. She acts out and gets sent to the office. She has trouble reading, and tries to hide it. She becomes friends with a couple outsiders. Eventually a teacher believes in her and helps her develop her existing skills. He later helps to diagnose her dyslexia and helps her to better read. She eventually becomes class president, beating the "mean girl" that had been teasing everyone else. The example if her bravery helped to inspire her older brother to also get treated for dyslexia. The characters seemed pretty typical. The mean girl briefly was exposed as suffering through demanding parents, but was still left to wallow in her misery as her "friends" eventually abandoned her..