Holly Goldberg Sloan, the acclaimed author of I’ll Be There, has worked as an advertising copywriter and a writer and director of feature films. This book will appeal to middle grade readers who are dealing with loss or coping with being “different” in some way from their peers.Īdd this book to your collection: Counting by 7s Dell develops into a decent human being, and the series of events that bring this about are truly funny.
Willow is always interesting, and the author does a good job of showing how misunderstood she is because of her genius view of life (which includes wry humor).
The characters of Mai, Quang-ha, and their mother, Pattie, who has a nail salon, are endearingly portrayed. I’ll just say that from this point on, I was hooked. But Mai takes things into her own hands, and this is when the story takes a charming turn. Because Willow has no known relatives, she is assigned temporarily to Dell Duke while social agencies look for a foster situation. Then Willow’s parents are killed in an auto accident. When Willow meets Mai Nguyen, whose younger brother, Quang-ha, attends sessions, they become friends. To this reader, both seemed contrived in order for the rest of the story to unfold. Dell Duke’s counseling system and dislike of kids were hard to believe, considering his profession. The principal’s easy assumption of cheating (despite records showing Willow was gifted) was jarring. In the early pages, I wasn’t keen on this story. In turn, the principal assigns Willow to attend sessions with a behavioral counselor, Dell Duke, whose office is in a different set of buildings. But when a teacher gives her class a standardized test the first week of middle school and Willow scores 100 percent, she is sent to the principal’s office for cheating. In Kindergarten, tests confirm she is gifted.
Her parents love her intensely for who she is. What to Expect: Quirky characters, unusual plot twists, a satisfying resolution to an initially tragic situation. Elizabeth Varadan | The Children’s Book Review | OctoCounting by 7s
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