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Counting by 7s
by Holly Goldberg Sloan
published by Dial Books for Young Readers
I just finished reading Counting by 7s...I started it over a month ago, but didn't know it was about grief. I read the first few chapter and had to sit it aside. Then I picked it up again a few weeks later and couldn't put it down. This book is original and the characters have such interesting voices. When I had finished, my book was so marked up with oohs and aahs and dog-ears and pencil marks that I just had to share a few of Holly Goldberg Sloan's amazing lines with you. So here are a dozen of my faves (in no particular order) to entice you to pick this book up:
1. "I will forever be someone else now."
2.
3. "I admire that in a person. The ability to keep your mouth shut is usually a sign of intelligence."
4. "...books = comfort."
5. "For someone grieving, moving forward is the challenge. Because after extreme loss, you want to go back. Maybe that's why I don't calculate anything now. I can only count in the negative space. I'm on a different planet now. I only speak when I absolutely have to. Otherwise, I do my best to be invisible and stay out of the way. No matter how hard they try, other people do not understand because I'm incapable of communication. And that is why the deepest form of pain comes out as silence."
6. "And just being there is ninety-nine percent of what matters when your world falls apart."
7.
8. "Night is always the hardest."
9. "I will see only what I want to see. It's possible that's how people get through crisis. The world where we live is so much in our head."
10. "A second can feel like forever if what follows is heart-break."
11.
12. "...is life so filled with random action that the very notion of caution is futile?"
These are my favorite lines, but when you read it, I'm sure you'll find your own. This is such a well written story and it will break your heart and restore your faith in people all at the same time. I highly encourage you to read it!
I also encourage you to take a look at the blogs below for a linky list of other fun book blogs:
Labels: 2013, diversity in kidlit, love of reading, MG
