Counting by 7s, POV

I wrote about this book in a Christian Science Monitor Middle-Grade Roundup. You can see my short review HERE.

But I want to say a few things about it from a writer's perspective.

And especially that dratted multi-character POV thing.

In this book, I love it and think it works perfectly.

Willow Chase tells most of the story, in first person chapters. She's the "highly gifted" --she says this herself-- multi-racial, adopted child of somewhat older parents who don't really appear except as Willow shares her memories of them. That's no spoiler. It's obvious from the very beginning of this novel. We're shown the tragic event that sets the story in motion and upsets Willow's world.

I loved everything about this young woman. From her name, to her outsider-ish personality and that she knows she's not the average middle-schooler surrounded by friends. Her attempts to fit in at the new school her parents have chosen are failures. Despite someone (Mom, for sure) leaving a Teen Vogue magazine on her bed, featuring a teenager with "hair the color of a banana" and a wide smile, Willow chooses her gardening outfit for her first day at Sequoia Middle School. Without the binoculars around her neck. She does wear her new glasses, with "frames that looked like what Gandhi wore." They were perfect "because I was going forward in the brave new world in peace."
Or so Willow believes.

Then there's her school counselor. Dell Duke, whose chapters are 3rd person, and I think mostly past tense. Chapters often shared with Willow's new friend Mai. A few chapters are in the voice of the cab driver, Jairo Hernandez, who thinks Willow must be some kind of shaman, not to mention an Alberta Einstein.

Can you see how complicated this sounds? You know what- it's not!
The writing flows seamlessly and beautifully. The story moves quickly.

Having recently read quite a few books told by different characters, I'm beginning to zero in on the difficulty of reading and of writing one. I agree with a reviewer of a different book who they can take on a drive-by quality. The literary equivalent of speed-dating. You just get settled in with one character and another begins telling a completely different, though usually interwoven side of the story.

In the case of Counting by 7s, this just isn't the case. You hardly notice that it's not Willow's story to tell because every character has something to say about her, some connection, an emotional bond being forged.

If you google Multi POV or some such, you'll find a lot of hates. Dreads and drats.
But I think it's being used a lot more in kids' books. Some work. Some don't.

I happen to think COUNTING BY 7s works in all the right ways.

If you're still reading and hope to go away with some helpful writing info re: POV, a few links--

Linda Urban's discussion, via her NESCBWI presentation-
http://lindaurbanbooks.com/2013/05/05/point-of-view-handout-nescbwi/ 

Janice Hardy spells it out HERE: http://blog.janicehardy.com/2010/02/first-through-third.html

Darcy Pattison. Always trustworthy. Especially like that Seedfolk comment, re: community-
http://www.darcypattison.com/revision/multiple-pov-2/

Not specifically about writing for Middle Graders or Young Adults, here are some big Do's and Don'ts (Dos and/or Don't's just didn't look right...)-

http://maybegenius.blogspot.com/2011/08/dreaded-multiple-pov-novel.html

Learning from the Best: POV

Here is a post by Linda Urban that I come back to often. 
With each re-reading, I pick up another, finer point.

http://lindaurbanbooks.com/2013/01/22/point-of-view-one-authors-perspective/

My favorite book by Linda Urban is HOUND DOG TRUE. I've also read that middle-grade novel more than once. I sped through it the first time and if you'd asked me what "person" she'd written in, I would have answered, without a beat, First Person. Mattie's voice is so strong, it had to be. Right?

Wrong. 

But it's very close Third Person. And it works.

Now that I'm noodling around a new story idea, the first thing that needs struggling with:  
Who the heck is telling this story anyhow? 
At first, I had two POV characters. Struggle, struggle! Hard work!
Not succeeding too well.

So I switched to the young girl, whose voice I heard clearly.
But now I'm vacillating. Maybe that other character needs to be heard. 
He sure is trying to tell me something.

So, what did I do? I reread Linda's fantastic post. And I'm going to really think about what she says about THEMES and narrator's voice influencing POV.

Her most recent novel is told by more than one character. I've only read it once. I didn't love it like I loved HOUND DOG TRUE, but it intrigued me. (And truthfully, there aren't a lot of books I loved as much as that one.)
Having read her writing process, I have the book out to reread. Because I'm interested in thinking more about how those characters tell the same story, from different perspectives. 

Here's a bit of Linda's post on POV, about this multi-POV book, THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING:

In the next chapter, we experience that same moment through Ruby’s eyes.  We see her draw conclusions about the banker’s actions that are completely different from the motivations we have been privy to pages earlier.  I could not have made this work in a first person novel, or even one told in close third, but these overlapping moments were useful in the exploration of another of the book’s themes: the question of whether or not things happen as they are “supposed to” or whether there is a “supposed to” at all (and if so, can we ever know what that “supposed to” is?).

Check out the blog post by Linda.
Here's the link, again, in case you forgot to click on it up there.
😄
http://lindaurbanbooks.com/2013/01/22/point-of-view-one-authors-perspective/