Books › Counting by 7s
Counting by 7s
351 pages
A tender, quirky exploration of grief that blossoms into a heartwarming celebration of found family and the beautiful logic of the natural world.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like watching a garden slowly bloom after a devastating frost. You are immediately anchored in a highly specific, analytical, and deeply endearing narrative voice that processes the world through medical diagnoses, botany, and the number seven. When sudden tragedy strikes, the atmosphere shifts into a quiet, disorienting grief, but the story refuses to wallow in despair. Instead, it maintains a steady, hopeful pace as an eccentric cast of misfits gravitates toward the protagonist, forming a vibrant, makeshift family. The prose is precise and gently humorous, capturing the awkward beauty of human connection. It is a deeply comforting read that will delight anyone who loves stories about resilient, neurodivergent minds finding their exact right place in a messy world.
- Mood
- bittersweet
- hopeful
- warm
- eccentric
- Tone
- earnest
- observant
- quirky
- tender
- wry
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- found family · navigating sudden grief · neurodivergent perspectives · interconnectedness · healing through nature
- The writing
- Precise, highly analytical, and deeply observant, perfectly mirroring the protagonist's logical yet profoundly sensitive way of processing the world.
- The arc
- Begins in sudden, disorienting tragedy and slowly builds into a triumphant, heartwarming embrace of an unconventional found family.
- Who it's for
- Readers who cherish character-driven middle-grade stories about highly unique, neurodivergent kids who change the lives of everyone around them.
Content notes
- death of parents
- grief and mourning
- foster care system
About the book
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.
Description from Open Library.
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