Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan - - ADVISABLE

Sloan, Holly Goldberg Counting by 7s, 380 pgs. Dial Books for Young Readers, 2013 $16.99.  

Language: G (0 swears); Violence: PG; Mature Content: PG.  

12-year-old Willow Chance is a gifted gardener and medical diagnostician but her middle school experience is trying (for her and her teachers). When she is sent to a district counselor for cheating on a test, she meets a friend, her first, an older high school girl named Mai.  But then Willow’s world is hit by tragedy when both her parents are killed and Willow is literally left alone in the world. Willow is an outsider looking in.  

Relationships are something she examines, rather than experiences.  Her fight for survival is more mental than physical.  Told in both 1st and 3rd person, the differing points of view labors the reading a bit.  Although Willow is young, and the content is clean, I would recommend this for upper middle school and high school as it is a very thought provoking examination of character and society.  

MS, HS - ADVISABLE  Lisa Librarian