Similarities Between 'Fish In A Tree And The Seventh Most Important Thing'

When there is change present in life, it is hard not to back down, and although changes and challenges in life are hard and seem unavoidable, friends are always there to keep you up. In the books, Fish In A Tree, and The Seventh Most Important Thing, the two main characters Arthur and Ally learn to never give up, how changes in life may not always be good, but are unavoidable, and how friends will always have your back. In the book, Fish In A Tree, Ally struggles with dyslexia. A disability that affects her reading and writing skills, so she can’t read or write easily. Arthur on the other hand is struggling to adjust to the different environment and view he now has because of being in Juvie. Ally has taught me to never give up, all through

In this story, Ally struggles with Shay bullying her at school, and her reading disability, she talked about in the book, how she had volunteered to read aloud the year before but how it had gone terribly wrong. On page 22 the author showed this as she wrote, “As they laugh, I remember how I had to read aloud last year when I first got here. I knew I shouldn’t have, but some stupid voice in my head sometimes says it will be different this time and I try. And I always fail. That day, I read that macaroni can swim up to twenty miles an hour. It was supposed to be a manatee! The class laughed, of course. But so did the teacher, so I tried to pretend I had done it on purpose.” This quote is very influential in how never giving up can be positive, even if it gives a negative outcome. For example, even though Ally knows she can’t read well, she tried anyway. This shows that even though she may not get it right, she will try anyway, just so she can maybe succeed and be proud of herself, even if it caused the class to laugh at her. This theme never give up is also present when Ally is at Arthur’s house, and she, Arthur, and Keisha are talking. When they are talking about how Arthur will become a great scientist, and Keisha a grand baker, Ally feels like she’ll never be as important as Al and Keisha, but when she remembers how determined Mr. Daniels

In the novel, The Seventh Most Important Thing, Arthur struggles with his dad dying, his mom’s new boyfriend, and Mr. Hampton dying of cancer. When Arthur’s dad died, he and his mom handled the loss differently. While Arthur didn’t want to believe the truth, and tried to preserve his memory of his dad, while at the time, keeping his feelings inside him, his mom wanted the opposite. When Arthur’s dad passed, she wanted him removed from her family’s life completely. She shows this on pages 13-14 when Arthur thinks, “Arthur had been afraid this was coming. It had been three months since his dad died, although it still felt like yesterday. Arthur hadn’t forgotten how upset his mom had been after the funeral, how she’d gone through the kitchen like a bulldozer when they got home. ‘I don’t want anything that reminds me of Tom left in this house! Nothing! Not one d*** thing!’ She’d shouted, half crying, half yelling, as she threw out everything she could find in the refrigerator and cupboards: His father’s booze. Bags of corn chips. Packs of cigarettes. Cans of pork and beans. Anything that had belonged to him. Anything he liked. Only Arthur’s begging and his sister’s tears had finally stopped her from clearing out even more that night.” This event in the story really does signify how change can affect a person more than many people understand. Before Arthur’s mother’s