Denise's Reading Blog: Review: Counting by 7s

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan-Notes & Highlights

July 1, 2016 - August 10, 2016

This is a book I won from the Maricopa Summer Reading Program.

Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 6:45 AM; This is a pic. I found in my Google Photos library of this book!

Nobody's Perfect

"I was taken to see an educational consultant that autumn

and the woman did an evaluation. She sent my parents a

letter.

I read it.

It said I was 'highly gifted.'

Are people 'lowly gifted'?

Or 'medium gifted'? It's possible that all labels are curses.

Unless they are on cleaning products.

Because in my opinion, its not really a great idea to see

people as one thing.

Every person has lots of ingredients to make them into

what is always a one-of-a-kind creation.

We are all imperfect genetic stews.

According to the consultant, Mrs. Grace V. Mirman, the

challenge for the parents of someone 'highly gifted' was to

find ways to keep the child engaged and stimulated.

But I think she was wrong.

Almost everything interests me"

(18-19 Goldberg Sloan). counting by 7s

“The next thing we knew, we were all in Dell Duke's dusty car, heading out of the parking lot to Fosters Freeze. And that's where it all began, really. Because as I watched the school district office recede into the distance, I was certain that the old dynamic between Dell and Mai and me was over. And endings are always the beginnings of something else" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 108-109).

“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" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 137).

“The sunlight has a way of dulling the world in Bakersfield, and I gaze out the window and everything is like a copy of an original" (Goldberg Sloan, Counting by 7s, 171).

“I go outside and sit on the steps.

I'm not waiting.

I'm just being.

Time exists only in my mind.

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 as silence" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 175).

“All reality, I decide, is a blender where hopes and dreams are mixed with fear and despair.

Only in cartoons and fairy tales and greeting cards do endings in glitter" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 176).

“As the darkness of an autumn sky pressed in through the glass of the salon, Pattie looked down at her calendar" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 181).

I like this quote because I can see the sky coming through her window in my head and it is absolutely gorgeous.

“I have seen trees that survive fire.

Their bark is burned and their limbs are dead branches.

But hidden under that skeleton is a force that sends a single shoot of green out into the world.

Maybe if I'm lucky, that will one day happen to me.

But right now, I can't see it" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 184).

“I think now about how small birds often move in large flocks. From a distance, it can even look like smoke. It is unclear why they suddenly shift directions. The birds appear to have lost their individual intention. They are part of a bigger organization of life. And they accept that. Something inside them gives in. Scientists don't know what that is. Right now I'm in a flock. And so is Dell Duke. Whether he likes it or not" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 224).

“She said that they needed to put down a real root system to achieve their potential. Don't we all, thought Mai as she hurried toward her mother in the distance. Don't we all?" (Goldberg Sloan Counting on 7s 294).

"What goes in the soil next should be more permanent.

Right now I'm the sunflower.

Temporary. but attaching myself to the ground underneath me.

The garden is challenging me, as always, to see my own situation,

My court hearing is next month.

I'll be ready. I'm not sure for what exactly.

But maybe that's what being ready really means" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 314).

"I say :

'I brought home insects.'

But I smile and I don't even realize it until I catch sight of myself in the mirror.

I'm surprised.

I look different when I smile.

Maybe everyone does" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 331).

"While I'm tying the sunflower stalks to the railing, Henry comes to tell me that this is all a gift.

I try to say thank you, but the words are stuck.

My mouth is open and I'm suddenly some kind of fish out of water. You can't see the hook, but it must be in my cheek.

Or maybe it's in my heart , because that's being pulled.

Henry puts his arm around my shoulder and whispers:

'You're welcome'" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 333).

“I'm just one small bit in a vast expanse" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 344).

“That's the thing about time. A second can feel like forever if what follows is heartbreak" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 351).

“I realize now that I'm worrying about all of them.

It's better than worrying about myself.

This is one of the secrets that I have learned in the last few months.

When you care about other people, it takes the spotlight off your own drama" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 355).

“If there is anything I've figured out in the last months it's that you can find labels to organize living things, but you can't put people in any kind of group or order.

It just doesn't work that way" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 359).

“If the last few months have proven anything, it's that I don't need more theory, but rather more experience with reality.

Even though the dose I've received is enough to last a lifetime" (Goldberg Sloan Counting by 7s 364).

"I have my own system of order.

I think that at every stage of living, there are 7 people who matter in your world.

They are people who are inside you.

They are people you rely on.

They are people who daily change your life.

For me I count:

1. My mom (always)

2. and my dad (forever)

3. Mai