If you're looking with regard to a summary of the book counting by 7s, you've probably realized pretty quickly this isn't your average middle-grade novel. It's the story that deals with some heavy stuff—grief, isolation, and complete life upheaval—but it manages to do it in a way that feels hopeful rather than simply plain depressing. Written by Holly Goldberg Sloan, it's 1 of those books that sticks together with you because the major character, Willow Chance, is just so uniquely herself.
Who may be Willow Opportunity?
Before we get into the storyline twists, we have to talk regarding Willow. She's twelve years of age, and in order to call her the "genius" feels like an understatement. She's addicted with two quite specific things: nature (specifically plants) and medical conditions. Oh yea, and she finds comfort in the amount seven. Whenever things get stressful or even overwhelming, she counts by sevens to ground herself.
Willow is an used child, and the girl parents, Jimmy and Roberta, are the girl world. They don't necessarily understand the girl obsession with epidermis diseases or precisely why she desires to wear a gardener's outfit to school, but they love the girl unconditionally. Because she's so different from other kids, the lady doesn't really have friends. She's an outlier, an observer, and perfectly content in her own small bubble until every thing changes.
The Day Everything Chop down Apart
The story really moves off when Willow is accused of cheating on a standardized test. Precisely why? Because she finished it in report time and obtained an ideal score. The school board can't wrap their brain around her cleverness, so they send her to get a behavioral therapist named Dell Duke.
Dell is… well, he's the bit of the mess. He's not a great counselor, he's disorganized, and he's basically just skating by in his job. But meeting him is what presents Willow to the people who can eventually become the girl "found family. " It's at Dell's office that she meets Mai Nguyen and her sibling, Quang-ha.
However, while Willow is at a good appointment with Dell, the unthinkable happens. Her mother and father are killed in a terrible car accident. Simply like that, Willow's entire world will be obliterated. She has no other relatives, no safety net, and her obsession with counting by sevens suddenly isn't enough in order to drown out the silence of her empty house.
A brief Fix That Becomes Permanent
This is how the summary of the book counting by 7s gets really interesting, because the story shifts from a tragedy into a beautiful take a look at how strangers can become family. Willow provides nowhere to move, and she's dealing with the terrifying potential customer of being lost in the advance care system.
Mai Nguyen, who has a center of gold and a very strong will, convinces the girl mother, Pattie, to take Willow within temporarily. The issue? The Nguyens reside in a small garage behind a nail salon. It's cramped, it's not really technically legal, plus it's a far cry from the home Willow increased up in.
To create points work with the social workers, they need to move into Dell Duke's apartment compound, the Gardens of Glenwood, to pretend they have got more space. This weird, ragtag group of people—a grieving genius, a struggling counselor, a strict nail salon owner, and two teenagers—ends up residing this massive lay simply to keep Willow safe.
Changing the Gardens of Glenwood
Whilst Willow is numb with grief with regard to a long time, she eventually begins to find the girl way back to the living by means of her love of plants. The residence complex where they're staying is a bit of a dump. It's just about all concrete and deceased dirt. Willow decides she needs in order to build a garden.
This project gets the heartbeat of the book. It's not merely about sowing flowers; it's about Willow reclaiming a piece of their self. Watching her change this ugly, unwelcoming space into some thing lush and lovely is a metaphor for how she's trying to restore her very own life. The girl drags everyone in to it—Quang-ha helps with the heavy raising, Dell gets included, and even the neighbors start in order to take notice.
It's during this particular time that Willow starts to see that while the girl lost her "first" family, this wounderful woman has unintentionally built an additional one particular. These people weren't "supposed" to become her family, but they showed up whenever it mattered.
The Cast of Misfits
Why is this book work so well is how every personality grows because of Willow.
- Dell Fight it out: He or she starts off because a lazy man who classifies his students into classes like "Lone Wolves" or "Oddballs. " By the finish, he actually loves you about something other than himself. He or she realizes he may be considered a better individual.
- Mai Nguyen: She's fierce. She's the one which pushes her mom to take Willow in, and she's the anchor Willow needs when issues get dark.
- Pattie Nguyen: Initially, she seems about business and rules, but you recognize she's a survivor who does whatever it takes to guard the people the lady loves.
- Quang-ha: He starts as a typical grumpy teenager who doesn't want anything to do with Willow, but he eventually gets a protective big brother figure.
The Search for the Forever Home
As the story nears the finish, the looming risk of the foster care system comes back to the forefront. The temporary arrangement can't last forever. Willow is scheduled for a hearing to figure out where she will live permanently.
There's this tension throughout the last chapters because you're rooting very hard with regard to her to stay with the Nguyens. But Pattie and Dell aren't "perfect" candidates on paper. They don't have the big house or the conventional setup that social services usually appears for.
In an unexpected twist—which I won't spoil in as well much detail—Pattie plus Jairo (a taxi cab driver who will become a friend to Willow earlier within the book) step-up in a way that ensures Willow never has to be alone again. The ending will be incredibly cathartic. It's not a "happily ever after" exactly where her parents magically come back, but it's a "happily right now" where she actually is loved plus wanted.
Why the Number Seven Matters
All through the book, the number seven is usually everywhere. Willow's living is defined by it. But by the end, the significance changes. Rather of it getting a compulsive counting habit to deal with anxiety, this represents the seven individuals who have become her new world.
It's an attractive full-circle moment. She goes from as being a girl who matters by sevens to block out the world to the girl who is encircled by seven people who truly discover her.
Final Thoughts on the Story
If I actually needed to boil lower this summary of the book counting by 7s , I'd say it's the story about the fact that a lot more unpredictable and sometimes incredibly unfair. You are able to lose everything in one afternoon. But it's also a story about the "hidden" people in the world—the ones that don't fit in, the ones who feel like they're failing, and the ones who are simply weird.
Willow Opportunity shows us that being "highly gifted" doesn't protect you from pain, but having a community—no matter how strange that community looks—can help you survive this. It's a little bit of a tear-jerker, sure, but it's mostly simply a really solid reminder that family isn't always about blood. Occasionally, it's about the people who are usually willing to move directly into a run-down house complex and help you plant the garden in the middle of the parking lot.
It's an excellent read for anyone who has actually felt like an outsider. Whether you're twelve or forty, there's something regarding Willow's journey that feels deeply human being and remarkably real. In case you haven't go through the actual book yet, this summary offers you the bones, but the way Holly Goldberg Sloan writes Willow's internal thoughts is definitely worth experiencing for yourself.