Each year, our staff has read their agreed upon favorites ranging from picture books to novels, fiction and non fiction-- and come up with a title that stands out as the one we can't stop talking about.

Hicklebee's Book of the Year!

Counting by 7s By Holly Goldberg Sloan Cover Image
$18.99
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ISBN: 9780803738553
Published: Rocky Pond Books - August 29th, 2013

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 we love it ~ Willow Chance is different, and she knows it. But this 12-year-old--a brilliant girl obsessed with languages, medical texts and plants--has thrived with the support of loving parents who struggled with infertility for seven years before she came into their lives. When disaster strikes, Willow uses all her powers of observation and concentration to recover and find the other people who will help make life the adventure it deserves to be for everyone.

Counting by 7s is a book full of unforgettable characters, realized enthusiasms and second chances. We love it and are happy to make it our winter Book of the Year--the book our staff votes to recommend.