Ally gives Mrs. Hall a sympathy card for her baby shower, not realizing she cannot read the card's actual text.

Principal Mrs. Silver questions Ally about the card; Ally pretends to already know a poster she cannot actually read.

New teacher Mr. Daniels tells Ally he will work with her through difficulties instead of sending her to the principal.

During show-and-tell, Ally shares a steel penny from her deployed father and connects emotionally with the class.

Eager to earn Shay's approval at the lunch table, Ally says Albert's cut-off sneakers look dopey.

At the holiday concert, Ally splits her bouquet with Keisha after the music teacher wrongly takes Keisha's flowers.

On a field trip to the Noah Webster House, Mr. Daniels comforts Ally and tells her she may have dyslexia.

Ally meets with reading consultant Mrs. Kessler, who tests Ally using fun puzzles rather than standard bubble tests.

Mr. Daniels confirms Ally's dyslexia diagnosis and teaches her to trace letters using her sense of touch in shaving cream.

Mr. Daniels writes IMPOSSIBLE on paper, then tears it to leave Ally holding only the word POSSIBLE.

Ally abandons her prepared speech during the class president election and wins by speaking honestly from the heart.

After losing the election, Shay is harshly criticized by her demanding mother while Ally watches from nearby.

Mr. Daniels fills the classroom with photos of famous people with dyslexia and gives Ally a Winston Churchill paperweight.

Albert finally confronts the group of younger boys who have been beating him up on the way home from school.

Ally successfully reads the poster in Mrs. Silver's office, then gives Travis her POSSIBLE paper and introduces him to Mr. Daniels.

Ally accidentally reveals her reading difficulties when she gives her teacher a sympathy card at a baby shower, setting off a chain of misunderstandings at school. A new teacher named Mr. Daniels sees through Ally's distractions and chooses to work with her instead of sending her to the principal's office. When Ally struggles during a field trip to the Noah Webster House, Mr. Daniels gently suggests she may have dyslexia and arranges testing with a reading consultant. After her diagnosis is confirmed, Mr. Daniels begins teaching Ally through sensory techniques and chess, helping her build real confidence in her own abilities. Empowered by her new skills, Ally wins the class president election and earns recognition as Student of the Month, proving her capabilities to herself and others. The story ends with Ally reading a poster she once could not understand and passing her newfound belief in possibilities on to her struggling brother Travis.

Ally's journey from hiding her dyslexia to finding her voice.

In Mrs. Hall's class, Ally fills her paper with the word Why repeated top to bottom to fake participation in a writing exercise.

Shay and Jessica visit the diner where Ally's mother works and tease Ally about her reading difficulties.

Travis tricks a pawnshop owner into selling two valuable coins cheaply by allowing the man to underestimate him.

When given a writing journal, Ally draws a black cube representing a dark room where no one can see her.

Ally apologizes to Albert for teasing his sneakers; Albert brushes it off, already absorbed in a complex math problem.

Ally uses her visual-spatial skills to solve the fourth Friday puzzle box, which no student has ever solved before.

Ally wears a fake sling pretending to have a broken arm to avoid a writing exercise; Mr. Daniels sees through the trick.

Albert confides to Ally and Keisha at the diner that younger boys beat him up daily and he refuses to fight back.

At Shay's birthday party at the butterfly house, Ally reflexively grabs a butterfly hoping a wish will be granted.

Mr. Daniels awards Ally the Fantastico Poetry certificate, but Ally flees the room believing it is only a pity award.

Keisha follows Ally to a bathroom stall and explains that she only feels different to people who see with the wrong eyes.

Keisha invites Ally and Albert to her house to bake cupcakes; Albert quietly volunteers to switch tasks so Ally avoids reading the recipe.

While Mr. Daniels is away, a substitute teacher reads his private note aloud, publicly identifying Ally's learning difference to the class.

Mr. Daniels announces a class president race; Shay nominates Ally, assuming Ally has no real chance of winning.

Jessica places her pile of friendship bracelets on Shay's desk, signaling she is finished with bullying others.

From her very first act of avoidance — filling a page with the word Why repeated over and over — Ally demonstrates the creative lengths she goes to in order to hide her learning differences. Outside of school, she faces teasing from bully Shay at the local diner, while her brother Travis models how to cleverly navigate a world that underestimates you. Inside the classroom, Ally forms a genuine friendship with Keisha through small but meaningful acts of kindness, and her exceptional visual-spatial talent surfaces during Mr. Daniels' Friday puzzle challenges. Her friendship with Albert deepens when he confides in her about being bullied after school, and Ally slowly learns that she is not alone in feeling different. By the novel's end, Ally's classmates rally around her, with Jessica symbolically abandoning Shay's false friendship by leaving her bracelets behind on Shay's desk.

The friendships, frustrations, and small victories that shape Ally's year.

Ally's mother learns about the sympathy card incident and encourages Ally to try harder, believing Ally's intelligence should be enough.

Travis gives Ally a Mercury dime as a gift and warns her never to hold low expectations for herself.

Mr. Daniels shows Ally her paper filled with Why and promises to work with her rather than send her away.

Travis admits he cannot help Ally with her writing homework because he struggles with reading and writing himself.

Shay calls Ally's lunch group the Island of Misfit Toys; Albert logically explains why none of the toys are actually misfits.

Ally hands Mr. Daniels a paper full of nonsense letters as a test of his judgment; he responds without any criticism.

Travis drives Ally in his fixed-up old car and stops at a red light beside Shay and her horrified mother.

During a vocabulary lesson, Ally gives a deeply perceptive explanation of the difference between being alone and being lonely.

Ally presents an imaginary hero named Roy G. Biv, then overhears Shay telling Jessica that friendship bracelets cost money.

Mr. Daniels invites Ally to stay after school for chess games, offering to excuse her from homework on those days.

After building her chess skills in after-school sessions, Ally defeats Mr. Daniels and declares herself invisible to invincible.

Working alone in the hallway with torn paper pieces, Ally solves the chicken, wolf, and grain river-crossing puzzle.

Keisha and Ally make matching Steel and Magnesium T-shirts to wear alongside Albert's Flint shirt as a show of group solidarity.

Ally presents a book report poster with a real working lightbulb and explains that a soldier image represents her deployed father.

Travis asks Ally about Mr. Daniels' reading strategies; Ally demonstrates the shaving cream letter-writing technique she was taught.

The pivotal turning points of Ally's year begin at home, where her mother's well-meaning but misguided response to the sympathy card incident reveals how deeply Ally's struggles have been misunderstood by everyone around her. Travis plants an early seed of wisdom by warning Ally never to hold low expectations for herself, even as he quietly battles the same difficulties. As the school year unfolds, small moments of revelation accumulate: Ally tests Mr. Daniels' judgment with a nonsense paper, discovers the hollow nature of Shay's friendships, and stuns her class with a profound definition of loneliness. Mr. Daniels' invitation to play chess after school marks the true beginning of Ally's transformation, giving her a space where her visual intelligence is not a weakness but a strength. The story builds through Ally's election victory and the forging of a steel-flint-magnesium friendship with Albert and Keisha, culminating in Ally passing her hard-earned belief in the possible on to her brother Travis.