A decade ago, Holly Goldberg Sloan made an outstanding work of realistic fiction about loss, differences, and family. Counting by 7s follows 12-year old Willow Chance as she enters her first year of middle school in the small, hot town of Bakersfield, California. As soon as Willow starts school, she can really tell how different she is. After a misunderstanding on a test, Willow is sent to see the school’s counselor, Dell Duke, a strange man who is different from the other teachers. Willow slowly gets closer to Dell and soon meets the sister of another patient, Mai Nguyen. When driving home from Dell’s office one day, a tragedy strikes Willow, and it soon affects the lives of the people around her. Now Dell, Mai, and many other characters have to decide what to do to help Willow navigate her new life. There are big decisions made and things that happen that make the plot stay interesting the whole time.

In my opinion, Counting by 7s is a great read and it helped me understand how hard it is to lose people you love. The book has many different characters that the perspective switches between, so you really get to see how other characters are feeling at a given time. Sloan did a great job writing this story because the plot gets more and more interesting as you continue to read. It’s different from other books I’ve read because when you finish a chapter, you find yourself wanting to keep reading more and more of it. I highly recommend this book to anyone, but mostly realistic fiction lovers and middle schoolers. If you are looking to cry, smile, and laugh all within the short span of reading, Counting by 7s will be a great book for you.