On My Bookshelf: Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Basic plot from Amazon: In the tradition of Out of My Mind, Wonder, and Mockingbird, this is an intensely moving middle grade novel about being an outsider, coping with loss, and discovering the true meaning of family.

Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life . . . until now.

Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.

Why I liked it: Willow is different from the other students at her new middle school. Different as in she wears her gardening outfit on the first day of school because she wants her classmates to know who she is and what her interests are, and nothing her parents say can convince her otherwise. With her level of genius and social awkwardness, she likely would be considered "on the spectrum."

Then there is Mai Nguyen and her mother Pattie; it would be difficult to decide which character I liked better. The Vietnamese daughter and mother are both fiercely protective of the ones they love and don't take no for an answer. Neither hesitates to take in Willow, a young girl Mai barely knows and Pattie has never met before, after Willow's parents are killed in a car accident. That is the part of the story where you have to suspend some disbelief. Would near strangers really be allowed to take in a young girl, even temporarily?

If you can get past that, you can see the magic in this story because despite her quirky nature, Willow brings out the best in other people. Her slacker counselor, Dell Duke, decides to start running and lose some weight. Her taxi driver, Jairo Hernandez, goes back to school. Mai's brother Quang-ha starts doing his work at school and strikes up an unlikely friendship with Dell. And its not just people that Willow changes, its places too. With the help of the Nguyens, Dell and some connections in the gardening world, Willow transforms the apartment complex, The Gardens of Glenwood.

Classroom application: While Willow is just starting middle school, Counting by 7s could also be enjoyed by high school students. The novel could be offered as a choice for literature circles on the topic of differences with novels such as Tangerine by Edward Bloor, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, Wonder by R. J. Palacio, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

After reading the novel, students could engage in a service learning project. Like Willow, they could identify a need in their school or community or an aspect they would like to change and take steps to fill that need or make that change.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Counting by 7s for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here.

Note: The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

On My Bookshelf: Out Of My Mind by Sharon Draper

Basic plot: Melody is a fifth grade girl with cerebral palsy. She is confined to a wheel chair and unable to walk, but worst of all, unable to talk. Melody has so many thoughts that she has never been able to share with anyone. Melody's mother, father, and her two year old sister Penny all love her and her neighbor, Ms. V, helps to build a word board for her, but it isn't until Melody gets a Medi Talker (a text to speech converter) that she feels like she is finally able to communicate with the people around her. At school, Melody is able to attend regular classes with her new Medi Talker and her assistant Catherine. She even qualifies to be on the school's Quiz Team, which is set to participate in the national competition. Not everyone is as enthusiastic about Melody's new ability to "talk" and just when everything seems to be looking up for Melody, the unthinkable happens.

Why I liked it: Author Sharon Draper has the ability to tell it like it is, to tell the stories of the often overlooked lives without creating sympathy or pity for the characters, and Out of My Mind is no exception. She doesn't shy away from any issues, even uncomfortable ones, like how difficult it is for Melody to go to the bathroom or the embarrassment of having to be fed, but does so without creating pity for Melody. The first person narration allows us to see first hand the struggles of being a young girl and a student with physical limitations, but that ultimately Melody wants the same things as any girl her age: friendship and a sense of belonging.

Classroom application: Out of My Mind would be an excellent read aloud choice for grades 4-8 and could be paired with nonfiction texts to be used in a unit on disabilities and/or differences. The novel could also be offered as a choice for literature circle on the same topics. Two books I used previously in 7th and 8th grades on these topics were Tangerine by Edward Bloor and Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.

During or after reading Out of My Mind would be an excellent time for students to engage in a service learning project with other students with special needs whether it would be another classroom within the same school or an outside organization.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Out Of My Mind for yourself, you can find it on Amazon
here. Note: The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.