Counting by 7s

by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Review by Jai Hogue
Reading Level: 6+
This book is in stock

Counting by 7s takes 12 year-old Willow through an incredible loss and follows her journey to decide whether or not she can trust her life to ever be stable again. As the most unlikely of characters enter her world and walk her through this difficult process, they are all able to discover what it means to be a “family”.  Issues of grief, poverty, urbanism, education, and labeling are touched on in this book, which is shelved in the young adult section but written with adults in mind too.

This book is touching and difficult to put down. The writing style is beautiful, especially when compared to most young adult books I’ve read. There are a few bumps in the plot, mainly in the end, but I was able to look past them because it is an absolute joy to read. I will leave you with a few of my favorite quotes.

For someone grieving, moving forward is the challenge. Because after extreme loss, you want to go back.

Dell Duke is not a bad person. He is just bad at being a person.

It’s possible that all labels are curses. Unless they are on cleaning products.

He said that the cat was a therapy dog. I appreciate his support, but I sincerely hope that he’s not running the show.

As with all books reviewed on our website, this book is available for check out at the OC library. Happy reading!

– Jai

Genre: Contemporary, Middle Grade
Subjects: Eccentrics and eccentricities, Education system, Family, Foster care, Genius, Grief, High schools, Labeling, Loss, orphans, Poverty, Schools, Social issues, Urbanism, Young adult fiction