Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberson Sloan Review

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Publisher: Dial
Source: Conference
Stand Alone
In the tradition of Out of My Mind, Wonder, and Mockingbird, this is an intensely moving middle grade novel about being an outsider, coping with loss, and discovering the true meaning of family.
Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life... until now.
Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.




Review
This book is honestly perfection. At first I had my doubts, then it blew me away! I'm so glad I had the change to read this story. 

This tells the story of Willow. Her life takes a turn for the worst when both her parents die in a car crash. She finds herself in the hands of people she barely knows. As she figures her life out, she realizes things don't stay the same forever. 

Will did take some getting used too. She's a very complex character with an interesting voice. I ended up really enjoying her character. She was very mature and smart. She was very loving. She never gave up. I loved that she didn't take her problems out on anyone else. She was very grateful for anything anyone did for her. She has a personality you can't help but love. This has quite the set of secondary characters. They also took some getting used too. But, they were very well done. The story wouldn't have been the same without them. 

This is one of those books that make you think. There is so much to be taken from this story. Nothing was obvious. You really had to think to get the full story. The writing had this way of leaving things unsaid but understood. I had some troubles getting into the story. Once I did I couldn't put it down. It never got boring. Personally, I think this is one of those books everyone needs to read. I highly recommend checking it out.