The characters are likable and believable, and facing issues a lot of kids would relate to:  feeling dumb because of school struggles.  For the kids who can’t personally relate, this book is the kind of story that will give them insight into struggles that others face, and help them develop empathy.  The one element of the story that I, as a teacher, did not find believable was that Ally, a fifth grader, has up until now managed to keep all of the adults in her life from knowing that she can’t read.  Though there might have been a time when students could hide such things by acting out like Ally does, our educational world has become so driven by testing data, that there’s no way she would now be in a new school for even a month without someone conducting a reading fluency test.  But kids aren’t going to clue into that, and many may like to think that others are in the dark.  The best thing about this book is that it makes it really clear that Ally is smart, despite her dyslexia.