At first, a 12-year-old genius who lost her adoptive parents in a car accident doesn’t sound like the classic beginning of a heartwarming tale to me. However, as I traveled further into the story, Counting by 7s appealed to me as a beautiful, warm, and meaningful tale that had me laughing and crying simultaneously. A New York Times bestseller, Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan, was published in 2013. The story draws upon the protagonist, Willow Chance, and the aftermath of the car accident that killed both of her adoptive parents. 

Willow is a gifted 12-year-old fascinated by plants, medicine, and the number seven. The devastating death of her parents forces Willow to live with the support of an unusual group of people, her middle school guidance counselor Dell and the two high-schoolers, Mai and Quang-ha Nguyen. Being “highly gifted” and different, Willow struggles to fit in during her first few weeks at Sequoia Middle School. Even her teacher accused her of cheating on a test because of the perfection she answered it in, which brought her to meet with the school’s behavioral counselor, Dell Duke. During her counseling sessions, Willow encounters the Vietnamese siblings Mai and Quang-ha. Pattie, Jairo, Mai, Quang-ha, and Duke gradually become a surrogate family for Willow. As their company and support melt the towering wall in Willow’s heart, she acknowledges the vitality they brought to her life and finds hope in moving forward. 

The charming, well-rounded characters Sloan incised were brought to life under her writing. The book is retrospective as Willow looks at the day of her parents’ accident and then dials back in time two months before the crash into the official story. As the chapters frequently shifted between Willow’s first-person perspective and the omniscient narrator’s third-person perspective. Readers could also perceive her growth as she navigates her grief with the detailed, objective account of other characters in the third-person and Willow’s view. The roller coaster ride induced our moods with the introspective, heartbreaking, occasionally humorous, and ultimately hopeful tale told by Sloan. 

Counting by 7s explores the motif of family, growth, and personal loss. At the story’s beginning, Willow lives in the past, although the story takes place in the present. She has a hard time interacting with others, nonetheless, many friends. Until a bond magically formed in the counseling room in Sequoia Middle School, Bakersfield, California. From then on, Mai Nguyen, Quang-ha, Pattie, and Duke implanted themselves into Willow’s life, bringing back the life in her withering plants. When forced to confront the altering group dynamics and situation in her life, Willow’s friends deputized the missing spot of family and helped her overcome life’s obstacles. Sloan cleverly used vivid imagery of plants to resemble and mark different stages of Willow’s life after the accident. 

In this graceful, meaningful novel, I acknowledged the importance of friends and the preciousness of family. Willow’s tale reminded me of the gratitude we should bear to our loving parents and how grateful we should be for their presence. If friends were the green leaves always so vibrant beside you, our family would be the sun always providing eternal warmth and vitality upon you.