COUNTING BY 7's by Holly Goldberg Sloan. Dial Books 2013. 384p.  Grades 5-8

What can you do when you think on a different plane than anyone else your age, focusing on the small details around you while compiling them all into a larger picture of the world?  You can count by 7's. This is Willow Chance's world until her parents are killed in a car crash and she's left in the care of five very different people who try to make her life manageable.  However, they all have challenges of their own to overcome, which makes them all the more interesting. There's a guidance counselor with low self esteem, a Vietnamese family living in poverty, and a taxi driver who dreams of going to college.  One of the side plots involves Willow's penchant for gardening which parallels the personalities of the leading characters in their approaches to the planting process.  Sloan has delivered a unique story that will delight and inspire middle school readers.
Lynette Suckow, Superiorland Preview Center