Counting by 7s
Holly Goldberg Sloan (2013)
“A twelve-year-old genius loses everything and discovers that the family you build can be stronger than the one you were born into.”
Characters in Counting by 7s
by Holly Goldberg Sloan · 2013 · 7 characters analyzed
Cast: Willow Chance, Mai Nguyen, Quang-ha Nguyen, Phuong Nguyen, Dell Duke, Jairo, Jimmy and Roberta Chance.
Character Analysis
A twelve-year-old genius who counts by sevens, classifies everything, and has never learned how to belong. Willow's intelligence is both her defining trait and her primary obstacle — it makes her fascinating and isolating in equal measure. Her journey is not from smart to socialized but from isolated genius to connected human being.
Scientific register mixed with emotional simplicity. Uses words like 'genus' naturally but struggles with words like 'friend.'
Fierce, practical, and protective. Mai sees Willow's value immediately and advocates for her with an intensity that borders on aggression. Mai's protectiveness stems from her own experience of being underestimated and overlooked as a Vietnamese-American girl in Bakersfield.
Direct, protective, pragmatic. Vietnamese phrases mixed with American English. Commands more than requests.
Mai's younger brother — sullen, artistic, and resentful of Willow's specialness. Quang-ha provides necessary friction in the found family. His eventual acceptance of Willow is earned through proximity and honesty, not sentimentality.
Mai and Quang-ha's mother, who runs the Happy Polish nail salon. Phuong takes Willow in without legal authority or financial security because a child needs a home. Her love is expressed through labor — feeding, housing, working — rather than words.
Accented English, Vietnamese mixed in, pragmatic vocabulary centered on work and family.
A disorganized, ineffective school counselor whose personal classification system satirizes institutional reductiveness. Dell is the novel's most transformed character — the community that assembles around Willow gives Dell something he has never had: belonging.
Jargon-heavy counseling language that masks a lack of actual insight. Uses categories to avoid individuals.
A taxi driver and immigrant who recognizes in Willow a fellow displaced person. Jairo's strength is his willingness to be present without demanding anything. His silence is the novel's most healing force.
Quiet, measured, few words. Portuguese and English. Speaks through actions more than language.
Willow's adoptive parents, killed in the car accident that starts the novel. They are present through absence — everything Willow has become is because of their unconditional love, and everything she must rebuild is because of their loss.