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Counting by 7’s by Holly Goldberg Sloan made me question what exactly happens to the brain after the loss of someone and how it can change your life. There is so much to learn about the brain and why it does something at different times. When we are happy, our brain senses it and releases signals all over the body which then will cause us to smile or laugh.
In Counting by 7’s the main character, Willow Chance, was diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) which is when someone has uncontrollable thoughts and behaviors. It causes people with OCD to have obsessive thoughts about certain things like what numbers can be good and bad. Willow has always been fascinated by plants and the number 7. She was a genius who always got everything right in school. She never really talked to anyone except her parents. When her parents died in a car accident, everything changed in her life. She stopped caring about what the people were doing around her and she didn’t find the number 7 as lucky as she did before. Willow was in middle school when she met Mai who was in high school. They met at Dell Duke's office, a behavioral counselor, and they immediately became best friends. When all of them had heard the police officers say Willows's parents got in an accident, Mai never left her side. Mai's mother, Pattie, took care of Willow and Dell would always look out for everyone. When Willow’s brain seemed to shut down, they never gave up on her. After some time, Willow started to get back to her old self but she would never be like before.
In this text set, I recommend starting with the novel to help get information about the book before reading the other texts. Then the poem or essay because they both are primary examples of how someone can change after losing someone important in their life. I would then read about the connection between the single story and the song and then I would save the review of Counting by 7’s for last.
I have never lost anyone very close to me so I didn’t know what it was like to feel all these emotions at such a young age. Counting by 7’s really brought a new perspective of thinking to me of people who have to go through the world without someone who has been there with you since you were born. Willow had just come home from a regular day at school when she found out her parents got into a car accident. All though it may seem like it could never happen to us, it really could at any moment so I will care for every moment I have with my family.

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The novel Counting by 7's by Holly Goldberg Sloan tells the story of Willow's life without her parents by her side. When Willow loses her parents, she has no one she can look to. Willow suffers from OCD which causes her brain to obsess over little things in life. When she lost the only people who brought her together, her life fell apart and her brain had completely changed.

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In this essay, Losing a Loved One, the narrator talks about what they felt after losing a family member and how it changed their life drastically. Their family received the news that the narrator's uncle had been shot and didn't survive. Their body went into shock and felt paralyzed. This feeling that happens to someone connects back to how losing someone can change the way their brain works. When experiencing this trauma, your brain can shut down some parts of the body which can cause your mind to be thinking differently than what your body is doing.

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This poem, Loved and Lost by Christine G. McCloskey, states the stages that someone may go through after losing someone they love and how the world will suddenly feel completely different without that person in their life. In the poem, she says how you might feel alone and everything changes like, loss of appetite, lack of sleep, and approaching new people. In the end, she says how life will get better with time and you will learn to live without that person but you will never forget about the memories you share with them. This relates back to the single story of how everything can change that your brain controls from experiencing a big change in life. Your brain has to readjust and needs time to heal from losing someone.

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© Christine G. McCloskey more by Christine G. McCloskey

Published: December 2016

When you lose
someone you love,
life will change,
you rearrange,
and everything around you
seems so strange.

The world will spin
in the wrong direction.
You feel alone
and want affection.
Your appetite changes,
you may not sleep,
you don't feel like talking
to anyone you meet.

But as time goes on,
things will get better,
and everything
just comes together.

And just because you smile,
it doesn't mean you don't care,
because you know in your heart
that they will always be there.

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This poem was written a few years back when my granny died. I had family members die when I was young, but I wasn't old enough to understand how much it hurts. I didn't think twice about putting my feeling on paper into a poem.

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In the children's book, The Invisible String by Patrice Karst, there is always an invisible string connecting to everyone and places. They have an invisible string so that no one is ever alone and you will always have something. It says in the book that no matter where the other person might be, they will always be with you in some way. This connects back to the single story because when you lose someone, you start to feel alone in the world. By having an invisible string, you can stay connected with people and things so you feel less alone.

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Little Talks by Of Monsters And Men describe what someone may feel when losing a loved one. The artists talk about the pain and the memories that they felt and how at first they denied that the person was really gone. It took them a while to come to a realization the person was no longer with them and they had to fight through that feeling of grief and loneliness. This relates back to my novel's single story of how losing someone can affect how someone acts and how the brain can change.

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Of Monsters And Men - Little Talks (Lyrics)

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This review about Counting by 7's has a lot of similar opinions as mine. We can both agree that Mai was our favorite character for her kindness and open-minded feelings. She helped Willow Chance, who was the main character, with the struggle of losing her parents. The reviewer says their favorite part of the book was when everyone helped build the garden at the apartments but my favorite part was when Willow met Patty and Mai because they helped Willow throughout the entire book and never left her side.

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Reviews From a Young Reader’s Perspective: Counting by 7s

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The book that I’m about to tell you about is called Counting By 7s written by Holly Goldberg Sloan. The main character of Counting by 7’s is Willow Chance who was adopted by a really nice couple that loved her very much. Willow is also a genius which makes you think that she would have had a great l…