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A review by jenbsbooks
Counting by 7's by Holly Goldberg Sloan
4.5
This was a totally random pick for me ... I saw a physical copy at the thrift shop (grabbing books to stock my little free library) and the cover caught my eye. A quick internet search showed good reviews, so I bought the book. Decided to read it, got the audio from the library ... ebook available, but not in Kindle (there is a Kindle copy on Amazon for $10, but I figured I'd cope with reading in Libby or physical as needed).
I really liked this ... it reminded me a bit of [book:Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting|59836844], with several unconnected characters totally coming together, helping each other and making things better. The MC, a precocious 12-year old girl (of color) reminded me a bit of the little girl in [book:The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry|18293427], and also in [book:Ban This Book|31702735]. The way Willow thinks/talks, reminded me a bit of the autistic boy in [book:The Eagle Tree|26706264], and also (I've only seen the movie, not read the book, yet) the boy in [book:Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close|4588]. Not a "normal" 12-year old. Here, she is "gifted" ... extremely bright, and while not specifically addressed, shows some signs of OCD/compulsive traits. She has never done well socially because of these differences.
The whole "counting by 7s" was a cute theme running throughout. Another title could possibly have been "it's temporary" ... I loved the gardening that occupied much of the book. The color red. I recognized the little nod to [book:From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwieler|167661000] ... the title wasn't named but the book/story was referenced.
The first chapter starts off ... and ends with "I need to rewind. I want to go back. Will anyone go with me?" and then the reader is taken back two months as chapter 2 begins. I often don't care for this set-up ... but it works here, is perhaps even necessary. If you read the blurb, you know what is going to happen, and you almost need to know that right at the start. Then you get some background, then catch-up and continue on with the story.
It was interesting having this book in all three formats (audio, ebook and physical). The narration was pretty good, a little detached ... which actually matches Willow. Didn't sound quite as young as 12 though. In the physical copy, there was no table of contents! The TOC (in audio, in ebook) is just a simple chapter listing, no headers or anything, but still ... it makes it hard to find your place when you can't look at see that "chapter 9" starts on a specific page. The only way to find it is to flip through all the pages manually. The chapters are quite short, so it wasn't that bad, but still I found the lack of TOC odd. The ebook just had the basic chapters, the audio had the basic chapter plus broken into some additional sections (which seems odd, as the chapters are already quite short).
This shifted between 1st and 3rd person. This is Willow's story, and her parts are in 1st person, and she had a very distinct voice, her way of talking/thinking. Then there are chapters from several of the other characters POV ... Mai, Patti, Dell, Jairo. These are in 3rd person. In audio, it still sounded a bit like it was Willow's "voice" (same narrator) ... I think I would have made more of a distinction had I been reading these parts on my own. The shift from 1st to 3rd did help keep the sections distinct.
I was frustrated a bit by the ending though (enough to drop it from a 5*) ... SPOILER ... I love how everyone came to support Willow in the end, and I was fine with the "adoption" but that Patti had squirreled away a ton of money? Enough to buy an entire apartment building? Yet she had been living in squalor, and a shed, making her kids live this way ... WHY???? It made me distrust Patti, it just didn't make any sense? That Jairo had just recently come into money was more believable and acceptable and I wish that was the only money that was revealed ...
No proFanity, no sex, no violence ... deals with death and difficult situations.
I really liked this ... it reminded me a bit of [book:Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting|59836844], with several unconnected characters totally coming together, helping each other and making things better. The MC, a precocious 12-year old girl (of color) reminded me a bit of the little girl in [book:The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry|18293427], and also in [book:Ban This Book|31702735]. The way Willow thinks/talks, reminded me a bit of the autistic boy in [book:The Eagle Tree|26706264], and also (I've only seen the movie, not read the book, yet) the boy in [book:Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close|4588]. Not a "normal" 12-year old. Here, she is "gifted" ... extremely bright, and while not specifically addressed, shows some signs of OCD/compulsive traits. She has never done well socially because of these differences.
The whole "counting by 7s" was a cute theme running throughout. Another title could possibly have been "it's temporary" ... I loved the gardening that occupied much of the book. The color red. I recognized the little nod to [book:From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwieler|167661000] ... the title wasn't named but the book/story was referenced.
The first chapter starts off ... and ends with "I need to rewind. I want to go back. Will anyone go with me?" and then the reader is taken back two months as chapter 2 begins. I often don't care for this set-up ... but it works here, is perhaps even necessary. If you read the blurb, you know what is going to happen, and you almost need to know that right at the start. Then you get some background, then catch-up and continue on with the story.
It was interesting having this book in all three formats (audio, ebook and physical). The narration was pretty good, a little detached ... which actually matches Willow. Didn't sound quite as young as 12 though. In the physical copy, there was no table of contents! The TOC (in audio, in ebook) is just a simple chapter listing, no headers or anything, but still ... it makes it hard to find your place when you can't look at see that "chapter 9" starts on a specific page. The only way to find it is to flip through all the pages manually. The chapters are quite short, so it wasn't that bad, but still I found the lack of TOC odd. The ebook just had the basic chapters, the audio had the basic chapter plus broken into some additional sections (which seems odd, as the chapters are already quite short).
This shifted between 1st and 3rd person. This is Willow's story, and her parts are in 1st person, and she had a very distinct voice, her way of talking/thinking. Then there are chapters from several of the other characters POV ... Mai, Patti, Dell, Jairo. These are in 3rd person. In audio, it still sounded a bit like it was Willow's "voice" (same narrator) ... I think I would have made more of a distinction had I been reading these parts on my own. The shift from 1st to 3rd did help keep the sections distinct.
I was frustrated a bit by the ending though (enough to drop it from a 5*) ... SPOILER ...
No proFanity, no sex, no violence ... deals with death and difficult situations.