I'm torn about how to evaluate this book, because it had some serious merits, but there were way too many problems for me to love this book head-over-heels.

I know it was partially played as a gag, but Jairo's worship of Willow clues us into something a bit problematic about the text as a whole. That is the fetishization of Willow's giftedness. Sloan not only make her gifted, she makes her so special that Willow radically improves the life of anyone she encounters. Willow is basically a Mensa Saviour, and even if the author tries to portray her as a "quirky orphan" as some sort of tragic flaw, it does nothing to hide Sloan's obvious idealization of gifted kids.

Dell is supposedly redeemed, but we never really see him become a better counsellor. He just becomes less fat and sloppy, and learns to care for a few people other than himself. Willow barely shrugs when she finds out about Dell's horrific labelling method. Poor Dell, it's not his fault he doesn't give a shit about people.

Patti, who is so great for 80% of this book, decides to finally spend her secret fortune. Apparently her regular children weren't special enough to deserve a decent standard of living? Similarly, when Jairo listens to Saint Willow, he wins enough money to cover his entire college education. This author clearly came from a different economic reality than these characters, because she doesn't really get how money works. I know it's just a kid's book, but please, limit the financial miracles to one per book. And if you're going to have a miracle, don't use it as a deus-ex-machina to escape character development.

None of these feel-good redemptions feel earned. At times, Counting by 7's reads like a a savvy author's attempt at reverse-engineering classic newberry winners. I hope that wasn't her aim, because this was a funny and insightful book, most of the time.