Counting by 7’s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

In this book a girl loses her parents in an accident.  She tries to make her life better with the help of a girl, her brother, and the guidance counselor.  This book would be rated 7/10 because the ending was expected.  My favorite part was when the group tried to fix the apartment garden.

Submitted by KC

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan is perhaps the only teen novel I’ve read recently that doesn’t spend every single sentence discussing love- or at least not the type of love you would expect to read about. Instead, Counting by 7s is about the type of love shared between friends and family, and how everyone has those special people in their lives. It is also a story about change, tragedy, and the uniqueness in all of us. The book conveys all of these themes through the life of Willow Chance, an adopted twelve-year-old girl with a bigger brain than anyone you’ve ever met. Willow has a passion for language, studying human illness and most of all, nature. She blows many people away with her knowledge, but now that she’s in middle school, she’s having a hard time fitting in because she’s so much more intelligent than everyone else. Luckily, she meets a girl from high school named Mai-  another girl who finally understands her and is interested in what she has to say. Things seem to be looking up, but when Willow’s parents are killed in an accident, her entire world comes crashing down on her. With no other relatives or family friends to go to, will Willow ever find somewhere permanent to fit in?
The story of Willow Chance is no doubt an interesting one. She has as lot of intellectual things to say, and at first she may seem like a bit of a nerd, but she just needs love and care like everyone else. It’s heartwarming to see her find her comfort zone, after going through the worst tragedy a kid could experience. Willow isn’t the only dynamic character, however. Willow’s new friend Mai, her awkward counselor Dell Duke, and many others all get some time in the spotlight. I find it neat that Sloan opted to tell the chapters focused on other characters in the third person, instead of Willow’s first person point of view like the rest of the story. It’s a smart way to allow the readers an in-depth look into the other characters, as you can’t possibly do that in a first person style. Overall, Counting by 7s has many delightful little moments and perks that are simply too much to describe in a single review. It’s very slightly lengthy, but without a doubt worth your time due to the colorful cast of characters and the important lessons they learn.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.

Submitted by Lauren Leon