COUNTING BY 7S

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'Counting by 7s' is a realistic-fiction story entirely from the mind of Holly Goldberg Sloan.

Overall, I would probably give this book 5 stars. Instead of just being simple and humorous, 'Counting by 7s' brought something else to the table. Rather than most of the other books I've read (which often value comedy over quality), this book had a riveting plot line and well developed characters. It addressed some important and deep issues that needed to be discussed, broke the stereotypical format most other books often carried out, and talked much about phycological issues, as well as helped make grief seem more believable.

Characters

Willow Chance

From her first day of kindergarten 6 years ago to her current life in middle school, 11 year old Willow Chance had always been considered a freak. With a genius IQ but no one knowing it except herself, her parents, and he doctor, life hasn't always been kind to her. She was separated from her birth parents after they decided they no longer wanted her, and thrown into an entirely new family, and whenever she says something remotely pointing to the fact that she's a genius, she's bullied and pushed around.

Gardening is her only escape from reality. It acts as an outlet for all her pain, and helps her connect with people. In fact, when tragedy strikes, it's the simple act of growing sunflowers that helps Willow find happiness again.

DELL DUKE

Dell Duke is an...odd little man. His whole life, he has been a freeloading complainer with no real goal in life. In fact, his current job as a counselor is the result of a district mistake, and believe me, that mistake is made quite obvious in Dell's actions.
Truthfully, Dell is the type to stereotype people into different categories, which he calls the 'Dell Duke System of the Strange'. This system consists of 5 categories that he separates the kids sent to him into: strange, misfit, oddball, lone wolf, and weirdo. It isn't until he meets Willow that his perception of life finally changes.

Mai

Mai is a young, teenage Vietnamese girl who has never taken a no from anyone. Living with only her mother Pattie and her brother Quang-Ha in an old garage behind their buisiness, life hasn't always been easy. Especially with her brother's...issues. Her whole life, she has had to rely on her fire-like spirit to get her through, and it isn't until she meets Willow that her life finally changes for the better.

Quang-Ha

All his life, Quang-Ha has been seen as nothing but a troublemaker. A miscreant. A rule-breaker. Everywhere he goes, judging glares follow him and make him feel unwanted. It certainly doesn't help that he lives in an old garage behind a nail salon with his mother and sister. With all this hatred directed at him, Quang-Ha grew to hate everyone back, and soon he became miserable and angry. In fact, his only possible escape from reality is through his art...his inspiration for everything.

Pattie Nguyen

Pattie Nguyen is a middle-aged Vietnamese woman who came to America to marry her husband. However, her husband left her and her two children, Mai and Quang-Ha. However, 14 years later she has learned to take care of herself and now owns a Vietnamese nail salon.

Types of Characters

• Willow: Protagonist/Central/Dynamic Character
• Dell Duke: Round Character
• Mai: Dynamic Character
• Quang-Ha: Round/ Foil Character
• Pattie: Flat/ Static Character

SETTING

In the book, the story takes place in Bakersfield, California in the San Joquin Valley. Bakersfield is a relatively small town, with fewer than 500,000 residents and not many buildings. However, it is home to the three most important places in the story, which I will be listing in just a moment.

One of the places often shown is Willow's middle school, Sequoia Middle School. It's a large, brick building nestled in the heart of the city with odd groups and cliques of kids, as well as abnormal staff and teachers. The school also happens to be Dell's work place, where he meets Willow after she is sent to the counselor's office for 'behavioral issues'. The school sets the basis of the story, and sets everything in motion. While it is seen in mostly the first half of the book rather than the second half, it is still incredibly important and somewhat vital to the element of the story.

Another main setting of the book takes place in Pattie's Vietnamese nail salon. It's a small shop nestled in a bad part of Central California, but surprisingly enough it's where a lot of Willow's life drama happens. It provided a lot of development between the characters, and allowed some characters to change their entire view of the world as well as provide plot points that moved things along very quickly.

Last but not least, we have Dell Duke's apartment complex, the Gardens of Glenwood. The place was the most important setting in this story, no doubt. A lot of personal growth went on here, since Willow, Pattie, Mai and Quang-Ha all moved in. Many people changed their view of the world here, and Willow even helped to improve the building and everyone who lives here's lives as well.

PROBLEM

In the story, the main problem is not throughly addressed until halfway through the book, when it completely catches you off guard.

All her life, Willow has been seen as a social outcast due to her superior intellect, which I addressed earlier. From kindergarten up, it seems like life has always had it in for her: her best friend Rose moved away to Canada, she's always had to eat lunch alone, and even though she is incredibly gifted for some reason she always gets bad grades from her teachers. However, through all this she has had her parents to fall back on. Her entire life they've comforted her, cared for her, made her feel special. Because of them, her problems always seemed so small. It isn't until something happens to them that things truly start to crumble.

The problem in the story officially occurs when Willow's adoptive parents, Jimmy and Roberta Chance, were killed in firey car crash after their car was t-boned by a commercial truck.

From there, Willow's entire world completely crumbles. Her parents, the only two people that cared about her at all, are gone forever. And as her world crumbles, her personality goes with it. She stops going to school, (not that she needed it) finding the good in everyone, and counting by 7s. Everything she used to enjoy doing is completely out the window, including gardening. She stops seeing the joy in everything, and even begins to have suicidal thoughts.

Throughout the book, Dell, Mai, Pattie and Quang-Ha all attempt to help Willow through her grief, even trying to pass themselves off as Willow's legal guardians. In fact, it comes to a point where Dell has to allow them all to move into his apartment just to make it seem like Pattie is Willow's legal guardian. But it isn't until much later that things truly start to change.

A large portion of the story focuses on her going through her sorrow and the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The author made it her pain seem so believable and real that I couldn't help but share in her sorrow.

RESOLUTION

After Willow's parents are killed, it seems as if her entire life is hopeless. At one point, she even attempts running away to escape it all.

Finally, her new friend Mai's mom, Pattie, takes her in and attempts to become her legal guardian. All is going well as Willow lives in the garage behind the nail salon (as well as you can be living in a garage), until child safety inspectors come to inspect where Willow will live. They can't exactly show them a garage, so everyone moves into Dell's apartment at the Gardens of Glenwood.

After moving into the Gardens of Glenwoods, Willow's life seems to change...a little. It would take a lot of work, but Willow just might make it. As she adjusts to life at the Gardens of Glenwood, she realizes that the simple act of planting sunflowers could just be exactly what she needs.

Curious to see what happens next? Unfortunately, I can't say anything else without giving anything away. So in order to find out what happens, you'll just have to read the book!

Theme

To me, I believe the theme of the book is acceptance. This is expressed through the many actions of Willow, Mai, Quang-Ha, and all the other characters throughout the book. During the half of the book that Willow was coping with her loss, it seemed as if she was trying, forcing herself even, not to accept what had happened because in her mind, accepting it made it real. And I believe that was one of her true struggles. The death of her parents almost drove her to insanity, and at one point even ended her up in a hospital. In fact, it took Dell, Mai, Pattie and Quang-Ha combined just to get her to accept that the death of her parents was real, and that nothing she did would ever change that.

However, I also have reason to believe that another theme of the book is family. This is because throughout the book, it seemed as if one character would never turn their back on the other. From the moment Jimmy and Roberta welcomed Willow into their family to the moment Pattie was willing to welcome to Willow into her family, it always seemed like there was a loving hand everywhere she looked. While they were all living in Dell's apartment, it almost seemed like they WERE one big family.

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Personally, I rather enjoyed the book. I expressed a lot of my feelings for the book when I discussed the rating, but truthfully that was only the tip of the iceberg. I believe the reason I enjoyed the book so much was because I could really connect with Willow on a personal basis. I believe we all sometimes go through a little grief, and the way the author presented it made it so easy to connect with her. It was as if Sloan (the author) had looked deep into her reader's souls and embedded what really makes them human into her characters. They way they were presented were so life like that it was easy to follow along and really understand where they were coming from.

However, the book was not entirely flawless. There were some parts that didn't make sense to me, such as the fact that the book jumped to the climax of the story in the beginning (and I mean the VERY beginning, like the first six pages).

It sounds good at first, but once you read it you realize it makes it a little choppy and hard to follow. However, this does not mean it wasn't a good book and I would absoulutely read it again.

Reccomendations

If I were to recommend this book to anyone in particular, I would say that I recommend this book to anyone who thoroughly enjoys heartfelt stories with plenty of family, friendship, and altogether a heartwarming message. Anyone who enjoys philosophy, character development, and altoghether enjoyment would certainly consider this a good read.

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