My Life in the Fish Tank

I give this book 5 stars! Barbara Dee has a way of taking complex, mature topics and making them accessible, appropriate and engaging for middle grades students. In this novel, she skillfully addresses mental illness and the impact it has on families, specifically a middle grades girl, Zinny. Throughout the novel, Zinny grapples with the new information that her brother has bi-polar disorder and how to face her feelings when her parents are asking her to keep her brothers’ illness a secret. Dee uses flashbacks to illustrate Zinny’s changing family dynamics, her relationship with her brother and complex changing friendships. Ultimately Zinny learns the value of true friends, how helpful it is to share her feelings with trusted adults and peers and mental illness is not shameful. This book would be especially helpful for anyone who is dealing with mental illness themselves or knows someone who is. It would help them to have words to express is going on and reinforce that mental illness, like a physical illness is nothing that should cause shame. All middle grades students would benefit from the valuable lessons about humanity illustrated in this book as well as be engaged with the plot and relatable characters. I have already preordered this book and encourage you to do so as well. It would be perfect for any 5th-8th classroom library and would also be beneficial for counselors to read and have on their shelves to recommended to students who might specifically relate.

Guess what? It isn’t 1985 anymore. This author writes about relevant issues facing kids today - issues of consent, diversity, mental health etc. It is so important that we break the stigma regarding mental illness. I grew up with a father who struggled his whole life suffering from mental illness. I have had struggles myself and so have my children. No one should have to feel shame about themselves or a family member having a normal health condition. As a school librarian, I am so happy that there are children’s books addressing this issue in a way that isn’t overly didactic, showing kids that mental illness can be part of everyday life. Presenting kids with a relatable story can be therapeutic for readers experiencing mental illness, as well as generally helping to build empathy. Highly recommended for middle grade readers.

Barbara Dee just keeps getting better and better. She’s becoming one of those authors. You know the ones? “I’ll read anything they’ve written.”Fish Tank has it all: relatable, VIBRANT characters, a crisp, moving plot that doesn’t slow so kids won’t want to put it down (love those short, tight chapters,) and a focus on mental illness. This last is especially important today, as we as a society begin to understand the harm that keeping things “a secret” can do. Mental illness shouldn’t be a “tough topic,” and if we help kids start to understand and talk about it, maybe it won’t be.Bravo, Barbara Dee, and many thanks to Aladdin for sharing this one with my reading group.

I love how this book deals with mental illness (specifically bipolar disorder) without being too heavy. The book teaches so many life lessons while drawing you in to the lives of the main characters family and friends. Above all else, we learn that mental illness is only part of the story!

What a great book! Dee addresses a tough subject with such humor and heart that young readers will find it both reassuring and accessible. I especially enjoyed the occasional use of verse and play-like dialogue. Excellent read.

Love this book so much. Great quality.

Dee does a deft job of crafting a tale about twelve year old Zinnia navigating the rocky terrain of friendships, middle school and her big brother's recent diagnosis of mental illness. I really appreciated the well-developed characters, and how Dee keeps the action moving through this challenging landscape. Young readers need these stories. Well done!

Four and a half stars from me.The more I read of Barbara Dee’s Middle Grade books, the bigger fan I become of her writing. Dee’s new book My Life In The Fish Tank offers an approachable, empathetic, and realistic take on the topic of mental health. She does this with an engaging plot, relatable characters, and humor that will engage Middle Grade readers.Our main character Zinny’s life is turned upside down when her older brother Gabriel is diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. How her family deals with the situation surrounding the diagnosis is a big part of the plot. And how they deal with it? Not well, unfortunately. Through this chaos Dee manages to keenly reflect the tween perspective, the complexities of family – and in particular, family loyalty.Mom is distracted, Dad is in hiding, and they both don’t want Gabriel’s diagnosis to get out. This makes Zinny pull away from her friends who just want to help. The book captures the loneliness that can result from keeping secrets. I think it also does a great job at normalizing different situations that tweens might stigmatize, such as speaking with a counselor or attending the lunchtime counseling group. Overall, it takes a healthy approach to discussing mental health.“Because one thing you notice, when those bad things happen, is that calendars and clocks stop making any sense. Even if they still work perfectly okay, even if the batteries are good, and the cords are still plugged in…they don’t communicate anything useful. Or even anything your brain can understand.At least that’s how it seemed in our house.It was like, after it happened, we were in a different time zone from everyone else.A parallel universe.And we needed some kind of new, not-yet-invented time measurement. Abnormal Standard Time.”As expected, Dee captures the middle school voice perfectly. Zinny’s is funny, honest, and drew me right into the story. I thought her siblings (and her relationship with them) was well developed and relatable, too. She also has a great teacher who subtly helps her navigate the situation. (I love seeing strong teacher role models in books.) The book is age-appropriate for the subject matter and while geared for MG readers, it is wonderful for all ages.I received a copy of the book for review purposes. All opinions are my own!