COUNTING BY 7S

Stories involving brilliant loner kids with Asperger's-like characteristics are as ubiquitous in young adult literature these days as zombies, wizards, and dystopias. Robin Miles uses the precise, well-enunciated voice one expects in a character who is more comfortable with science than emotion, but the voice she employs sounds too old to belong to the black, adopted protagonist, 12-year old Willow Chance. Even the loss of the only people who love and accept her as the unique person she is brings no feeling to the story. Miles uses the same voice for the chapters that Willow does not narrate, an unfortunate choice as those chapters could have infused some emotion into the story. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2013]