What is the author's message? (Fish in a Tree)

I believe the author's message in the story is to teach readers about gaining confidence.  Landy Mullaly Hunt projects this message by putting Ally into a situation.  As her school year goes on, Ally meets the personalities of her classmates that help become more confident and have faith in herself.  When Ally notices that others are upset or shy she starts to change.  The night in the auditorium when Ally's friend got in trouble she gave her friend flowers to make her feel better.  "Mrs. Muldoon has turned around to stare.  Her mouth is open wide enough for a bird to build a nest in.  I hole her gaze as I hand half the flowers to Keisha.  'Well, she can have some of mine, then.'  In the end, neither of us had flowers when we walked into the auditorium.  But we had bigger smiles than anyone else."  I felt so proud of Ally when she did that for Keisha.  Mrs. Muldoon is just a women without a heart!  I guess she also doesn't know what sharing is since she's probably never done it before.  The flowers were from Jessica's father, anyway.