Counting by 7s — Holly Goldberg Sloan

An intensely moving story of 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 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 family is a joy and a revelation to read.