Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Super-gifted twelve year-old Willow Chance becomes an orphan in this fascinating story that would be loved and enjoyed by anyone twelve and older. The wisdom on every page is breath-taking! The parallels to the action in the story to the aphorisms is poetic. The characters are fascinating and real.
My Rapid City friend, Christy Robinson, posted a picture of the cover of this book and wrote that it was the best book she has read this year. This is what I posted to her:

So... I read this book based on your recommendation, Christy Cannon Robinson. I love interesting characters and this one had LOTS of them! I love their development and their wisdom... Such a sweet story. It's one of those books that I can't wait to reread so I can mark all the aphorisms that spoke to me. Many, many thanks!

I must have a thing about smart little girls, because I really love Alan Bradley's book series about Flavia DeLuce. And I love youth lit.  This story, though, really teaches a lot about finding joy and overcoming adversity. I like the pluck and courage of Willow's Vietnamese friend and her mother. I enjoyed the learning about plants and growing things. It's also interesting to me that this author did not go to faith in God or an after life or anything like that for comfort or explanation. These characters found hope and the ability to go on by building a strong community and helping each other. This is certainly a worthy way to move forward...it was just interesting to me that there was not even the slightest hint of a world beyond our own, or of a God.  It makes me wonder--do thinkers like Willow, who believe in science, really have no ethereal longing? Or wondering? I'm not sure if the story would have benefitted from this aspect of life, but I wonder if this was left out purposely or if the author is reflecting her own non-belief in an after life or anything similar. I'm planning to reread it anyway, because it's so full of aphorisms I want to capture. But this time I will read with the lens of discerning any philosophical leanings that I missed as I plowed through the story.

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Boy, was I wrong! There is evidence of a belief in the whole circle of life, but in my (usual) race to know the turns in the story, I missed them the first time through. I'm glad I took a slower trip through.

I loved it even more the second time through. At General Conference in April, visiting and home teaching was changed to ministering. I think this book captures in graphic detail what it means to minister to someone's needs. It is a powerful example of how serving others changes YOU, the server. What a gift this message is, and it's delivered with so much heart! I loved watching each of the characters grow and learn. It's not sugar-coated but it's wonderfully optimistic. Here are a few of the phrases and ideas I want to remember. I'm going to mail this book to Melissa, and hope she enjoys it as much as I did.

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A genius shoots at something no one else can see, and hits it.

I think it's important to get pictures of things in your head. Even if they are wrong. And they pretty much always are.

(A parent letter said she was "highly gifted.) It's possible that all labels are curses. Because in my opinion it's not really a great idea to see people as one thing.

It has been my experience that rewarding and heart-breaking often go hand in hand.

An ignoramus shoots at the wrong thing, and hits it.

Dell Duke was smiling. Unbroken mouth expansion.

Looking out the car window to the street that I'd known my whole life, I understood that origins were so important. Even if you didn't know your own.

It felt as if I were going up and over some kind of barrier after spending too long hitting the thing straight on.

And endings are always the beginnings of something else.

It's probably not much of a consolation, but you'll probably never have any loss this big again.

A leader organizes people whether they know it or not.

They don't think living in the garage is weird. Because they are used to it.

You don't have to watch many wildlife documentaries to know that the herd doesn't accept the lone straggler.

Everyone, I now realize, lives in a world of pain.

The ability to keep your mouth shut is usually a sign of intelligence. Introspection requires you to think and analyze. It's hard to do that when you are blabbing away.

I'm hiding in plain sight, which is often the best way to be concealed.

Life, I now realize, is just one big trek across a minefield and you never know which step is going to blow you up.... Fortunately, I'm an expert at not moving.

Maybe that happens when you've been through a lot. All of your edges are worn off, like sea lgass. Either that, or you shatter.
... My edges are gone. I'm sea glass. If you look hard, you can see right through me.

One of the few things that Willow had said in the last month was that everything in life could be seen in a garden.

And where was the rose once it was gone? It returned, Mai figured, back to the larger whole that surrounds us all.

And I'm forced to admit that being in a room with a teenage boy who appreciates the effect of shattered glass slices of color makes me feel better about the world.

All Dell really knew with certainty that now someone was steaming mounds of spinach in a kitchen that had never under his watch seen a vegetable in its raw form.

...once your baby teeth fall out, no one wants you. She also told me that prospective parents always pick the blond kids first.

The birds appear to have lost their individual intention.

I know that Dell's not a very competent person. He's not even a particularly interesting person, unless he's judged by his organizational disorders. But until this moment I hadn't realized that he's really a caring person.

He had to admit that once his junk was all gone, and the rest of his things were put into some kind of order, he had started to feel stronger.

Del Duke is not a bad person. He is just bad at being a person.

She said that they needed to put down a real root system to achieve their potential. Don't we all...

The burden of ownership means everything has a price. I thank that's why really rich and famous people look so weighed down and glum in most photos.

Physical stamina is a component in leadership, even in the modern world, where it isn't necessary to be able to harness an ox. Because it is still impressive if you can.

The garden is challenging me, as always, to see my own situation.

I don't want to know how you did it. I want to believe that you're magic.... I feel something wash over me when I hear the words. I think the feeling is acceptance.

It doesn't hurt as much because a large component in pain has to do with anticipation.

Temporary. Well, if you do something long enough, you don't get to use that word anymore.

They could hear the rustling of a thousand leaves.

I can't be in that place, because every time I allow myself to think about my last day there, I fall apart. I break loose from this world. I fly into a million pieces.

I realize now that I'm worrying about all of them. It's better than worrying about myself. This is one of the secrets that I have learned in the last few months. When you care about other people, it takes the spotlight off your own drama.

I will go forward into the world and do my best to be the daughter that my parents would have wanted me to be. I'm not brace; it's just that all other choices have been thrown out the window.

Not long ago, I had a lot of fear.
Now it feels like there's not a lot left to be afraid about.

I'm hoping that it will be a woman and a person of color who sees me and understands that I'm different, even Strange (as Dell Duke figured out), but that I still have value.

If the last few months have proven anything, it's that I don't need more theory, but rather more experience with reality.

Pattie says that nothing is for certain. That is the truest statement I've ever heard.

I return to the stairs, and as I sit here in a slice of winter sunlight, two small birds find their way down to the honeysuckle planted next to the bamboo.
They speak to me, not in words, but in action.
They tell me that life goes on.