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Counting Back from Nine
“There are rules for what I’ve done. Specific punishments for crimes against friendship.” Laren Olivier knows the rules, but her attraction to a friend’s ex-boyfriend is strong. She tells herself that if she and Scott can keep their new romance a secret, no one will get hurt. But Laren is not the only one with something to hide. Thus begins a year-long journey through secrets, lies, exposures and betrayals. Somehow, Laren must find a way to reconcile who she is with what she’s done. And when tragedy strikes, she finds herself struggling with a discovery so shocking it rocks the very foundation of her world. A novel in free verse by award-winning author Valerie Sherrard.
198 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 2012
4 people are currently reading
203 people want to read
About the author
Valerie Sherrard
35 books68 followersI was born in 1957 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and grew up in various parts of Canada. My dad was in the Air Force so the family moved often, and was sent to live in Lahr, West Germany, when I was eleven. It was there that a teacher encouraged me toward writing. I didn't rush into it, though. It wasn't until 2002 that my first book was released, but since then I've had several dozen books for young people published.
One reason I chose to write for children and teens was my experience in working with them. Over the years I fostered about 70 teens in my home, and I also worked as the Director of a group home for teens in my community for more than a decade.
One reason I chose to write for children and teens was my experience in working with them. Over the years I fostered about 70 teens in my home, and I also worked as the Director of a group home for teens in my community for more than a decade.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
April 21, 2014
I've recently finished reading this breathtaking novel, 'Counting Back From Nine' by Valerie Sherrard. The novel centres in on protagonist Laren, as she wriggles through possibly the most confusing, abstruse, and difficult year of her life. Throughout this novel, readers are transported through Laren's life in a beautiful world of free verse - a rare experience for myself, but also one that made look at this type of writing in a different light, and not because I was disappointed, but because I was delightfully surprised.
Laren's world went from happy to sappy to frightful in a matter of days. Her life was normal. Was. Now normal seems like a dream.
She has betrayed her friends.
How could she?
She has been forced to live through her father's sudden death.
How could He?
She is a mess.
Who is she?
Laren doesn't know what is real anymore - what her life means. As she begins her search for good, it seems as though bad is is her shadow. Wherever she goes, whatever she does. But she learns, as well. That sometimes, help is the best medicine. Support is is the best influence, and if you let it, love can be the light when life looks bleak. Laren comes to terms with herself, and her father. She begins to accept that no one is without fault - and he is no exception. But most of all, Laren learns to let go.
Reading this book was a journey in itself. Never would I have imagined enjoying this book in the least, but to my own surprise, I was pleasantly overcome with everything about this book. The single fact that the novel was written in verse had turned me off in the beginning. But I found it to be quite fitting. I felt as though the author used it to her advantage, and was able to evoke a subtle beauty in her writing. I loved it. And even though this decision immediately limits an author in what can be expressed, I found the style effective for the longing, confused theme of the book. These are some of these moments in the story.
(pg 194)
"I know I have made a start.
I have walked toward sorry
but she has steps to take as well
and healing cannot begin until
she walks toward forgiveness.
I hope for a measure of reconciliation
somewhere on the path ahead but we have
not reached that place.
Some things are heavy to carry
and yet
you cannot set them down just anywhere."
Also,
(pg 36)
"The nurse's voice is a meaningless
hum in the background. I hear random words:
driver, car, passenger, red light, seatbelt.
None of them mean a thing,
hovering behind us
as we try to grasp
what lies ahead."
There was so much about this book I liked, but a factor that truly settled inside me was the enormity of how much Laren changed as a person. She is a dynamic character. I saw her become more and more real. Believable. How loss made her regretful, and the way she learned that loss is a test, one that she is now living. The weight which her life takes on in the capacity of the novel makes her a different person. It forces her to consult with others, and in my opinion become stronger, and braver in the sense that she isn't afraid to share her feelings, and she isn't afraid to face her feelings. She finds ways to accept the reality of what her new life is. Without her father. Without her old friends. But she also becomes accepting of change, and that is something I find extraordinary.
Laren's world went from happy to sappy to frightful in a matter of days. Her life was normal. Was. Now normal seems like a dream.
She has betrayed her friends.
How could she?
She has been forced to live through her father's sudden death.
How could He?
She is a mess.
Who is she?
Laren doesn't know what is real anymore - what her life means. As she begins her search for good, it seems as though bad is is her shadow. Wherever she goes, whatever she does. But she learns, as well. That sometimes, help is the best medicine. Support is is the best influence, and if you let it, love can be the light when life looks bleak. Laren comes to terms with herself, and her father. She begins to accept that no one is without fault - and he is no exception. But most of all, Laren learns to let go.
Reading this book was a journey in itself. Never would I have imagined enjoying this book in the least, but to my own surprise, I was pleasantly overcome with everything about this book. The single fact that the novel was written in verse had turned me off in the beginning. But I found it to be quite fitting. I felt as though the author used it to her advantage, and was able to evoke a subtle beauty in her writing. I loved it. And even though this decision immediately limits an author in what can be expressed, I found the style effective for the longing, confused theme of the book. These are some of these moments in the story.
(pg 194)
"I know I have made a start.
I have walked toward sorry
but she has steps to take as well
and healing cannot begin until
she walks toward forgiveness.
I hope for a measure of reconciliation
somewhere on the path ahead but we have
not reached that place.
Some things are heavy to carry
and yet
you cannot set them down just anywhere."
Also,
(pg 36)
"The nurse's voice is a meaningless
hum in the background. I hear random words:
driver, car, passenger, red light, seatbelt.
None of them mean a thing,
hovering behind us
as we try to grasp
what lies ahead."
There was so much about this book I liked, but a factor that truly settled inside me was the enormity of how much Laren changed as a person. She is a dynamic character. I saw her become more and more real. Believable. How loss made her regretful, and the way she learned that loss is a test, one that she is now living. The weight which her life takes on in the capacity of the novel makes her a different person. It forces her to consult with others, and in my opinion become stronger, and braver in the sense that she isn't afraid to share her feelings, and she isn't afraid to face her feelings. She finds ways to accept the reality of what her new life is. Without her father. Without her old friends. But she also becomes accepting of change, and that is something I find extraordinary.
April 21, 2014
Valerie Sherrad, the author of ‘Counting back from Nine’ wrote this book explaining the difficulties of a teenage girl after a sudden death and the loss of friendship. Laren Oliver was a 16 year old girl who always with her friends and having a good time, after a fatal tragedy, everything went downhill. When I first saw this book it did not look very interesting to me because the cover made me think that their would a lot of drama with friends and who is dating who. It was not as bad as I thought it would be.
Laren was a girl who rarely showed her emotions, after the death, all she could do was get comfort from her friends. When Laren decided to date one of her friend’s ex-boyfriends, all of her friends betrayed her. She had to go through a lot and no one could help, not even her family because they were still traumatised by the death. Lauren was alone; it was like trying to find your way out a maze. There was one more thing she could do, it was love. It was the best way to let everything out and get some warmth.
This was not my favourite book but I still enjoyed it and had interest in reading it. I thought the way Valerie Sherrad wrote this book was very detailed, she described how they felt, what was going through their minds and even what their facial expressions are in that part. Counting back from nine was a realistic book, it explains what a teenager would do if someone passed away. It also is saying how hard it is to get back to your regular routine, once something big happens it is hard to handle. The author really described the setting of the book how they are feeling; it was an easy picture to imagine.
It was nice change to read a different genre; it had a different story than other books. I found it very fascinating how the author wrote it in almost like a poem format, I have not read a book like that but it was easy read. It explains the story in a short paragraph on each page .Laren was the easiest one to see grow up and change her personality. She had to find a way to handle her situation in the mature way, once she did that she began to change and grow up. Overall, this was an enjoyable book to read and it gives a different taste of that genre. I would rate it 3 out of 5.
Laren was a girl who rarely showed her emotions, after the death, all she could do was get comfort from her friends. When Laren decided to date one of her friend’s ex-boyfriends, all of her friends betrayed her. She had to go through a lot and no one could help, not even her family because they were still traumatised by the death. Lauren was alone; it was like trying to find your way out a maze. There was one more thing she could do, it was love. It was the best way to let everything out and get some warmth.
This was not my favourite book but I still enjoyed it and had interest in reading it. I thought the way Valerie Sherrad wrote this book was very detailed, she described how they felt, what was going through their minds and even what their facial expressions are in that part. Counting back from nine was a realistic book, it explains what a teenager would do if someone passed away. It also is saying how hard it is to get back to your regular routine, once something big happens it is hard to handle. The author really described the setting of the book how they are feeling; it was an easy picture to imagine.
It was nice change to read a different genre; it had a different story than other books. I found it very fascinating how the author wrote it in almost like a poem format, I have not read a book like that but it was easy read. It explains the story in a short paragraph on each page .Laren was the easiest one to see grow up and change her personality. She had to find a way to handle her situation in the mature way, once she did that she began to change and grow up. Overall, this was an enjoyable book to read and it gives a different taste of that genre. I would rate it 3 out of 5.
January 21, 2014
Do not leave poetry books lying around me.
Review to come.
Review to come.
September 26, 2014
The novel "Counting Back From Nine" by Valerie Sherrard follows a sixteen year old girl trying to cope with the death of her father. She must also deal with rejection from one big mistake that she made. This novel is written in free verse poetry. What I particularly liked about the book was that all the characters were relative enough that connecting with them wasn't nearly impossible, I also liked that the protagonist had character flaws which, in my opinion was good because that shows that the author wasn't trying to put them on a high pedestal and that you can be a good person even if you made mistakes. Although I didn't like how there aren't any cliffhangers throughout this novel and sometimes it felt like there wasn't any substance to some of the poetry it went into just ranting after a while. I would recommend this book to fans of drama and also younger teenage readers. Overall I still give this book a 5/5 rating.
February 20, 2014
This book is about a girl named Laren going through some troubles in her life, her friends give up on her and something else surprising happens, but you have to get it to get it.
Well, to tell the truth, I picked this book because my library teacher introduced it to me, I would not even have looked at this book if it worn't for him (shout out to Mr.Gould).
I finished the book because it actually related to me in a way, sometimes things happen and you have to chose what you want in life.
I'd like to recommend this book to my friend Alisa, one of my best friends from my old school, she would love this book because when bad things happen(those happens allot) that she just has to get back on the horse and ride.
What I have to say is that this book is a very powerful book, but I do not like the fact it is made up of only poems for each category. Over all I do like the book, I just don't love it.
Well, to tell the truth, I picked this book because my library teacher introduced it to me, I would not even have looked at this book if it worn't for him (shout out to Mr.Gould).
I finished the book because it actually related to me in a way, sometimes things happen and you have to chose what you want in life.
I'd like to recommend this book to my friend Alisa, one of my best friends from my old school, she would love this book because when bad things happen(those happens allot) that she just has to get back on the horse and ride.
What I have to say is that this book is a very powerful book, but I do not like the fact it is made up of only poems for each category. Over all I do like the book, I just don't love it.
January 11, 2014
Laren Oliver has broken the rules of friendship. At least according to her friends. Laren now needs to learn to accept the exclusion from her friends, and to find some new friends. Laren goes through big changes. Laren finds out who she is, and what she values in life.
I picked this book up because I wanted to read another red maple book and this was the only one available.
I finished this book because, I wanted to know if Laren's father had an affair or not. I also wanted to see Laren get her friends back, which unfortunately did not happen.
I would recommend this book to Mikaila. Since she enjoyed the book Before I fall, she will definitely like this one.
I picked this book up because I wanted to read another red maple book and this was the only one available.
I finished this book because, I wanted to know if Laren's father had an affair or not. I also wanted to see Laren get her friends back, which unfortunately did not happen.
I would recommend this book to Mikaila. Since she enjoyed the book Before I fall, she will definitely like this one.
January 28, 2014
For the number of pages that were in this book i felt that it was written to the best of its ability. I enjoyed reading the format of this book and i wish it had been a little longer. however for the fact of the characters in this book, i thought that it was a tad unrealistic. i dont know anybody in my life that could be so selfish that they would not support their friend in a time of need, just to be true to their stubborn feelings. I felt that this book was left untold, my reasonings being i would have liked to know what happend in the future for laren but overall it was a goodread;)
April 28, 2013
Written in free verse, this book is about Laren, who feels alone because her core group of friends all ignore her after finding out she is dating one of their ex-boyfriends. Early in the plot line Laren's father dies in a car accident. Throughout the book, Laren is trying to deal with both of these things while also struggling with a bigger family secret that she slowly uncovers.
Publication Date: 2013
Age/Grade level: 9th grade to 12th grade
Format: Print Book
Publication Date: 2013
Age/Grade level: 9th grade to 12th grade
Format: Print Book
October 14, 2013
I loved the way this book was written and what it said. The free verse allows the reader to experience both the events as well as the feelings happening on the page. Valerie Sherrard does a wonderful job of drawing the reader in and keeping hold until the very last page. This is my latest birthday-present book for all 13-15 year old girls. A great read about loss, friendship, and finding yourself amidst all the clutter of real life.
November 24, 2013
This is a Red Maple nominee in the Forest of Reading. I love the writing style. It was a good story. The character makes some choices that she has to deal with the consequences and later learns from her mistakes. She debates having sex with her boyfriend but in the end she doesn't. It's not a huge part of the story. It doesn't say the age of the main character but I place her in high school. It seems a bit mature for 7/8's but I'm not sure.
December 21, 2012
This seemingly simple story will stay with you long after you put the novel down. I don't think Sherrard could have pulled this off in any format other than free verse. The stark words hit with precision. The ending will blow you away.
January 4, 2014
Laren is very strong. She tries her best to forget about the death of her father, losing her best friend, and moving on in life. She is a great role model.
January 24, 2014
This book was good. I really liked how the book is separated into Laren's different life events.
July 13, 2018
Great poetry! Nice plot although I wish there was more detail. Overall, a sweet Red Maple selection. :)
June 21, 2014
This book was so stupid i would never have even looked at it let alone read it if it wasn't for my teacher >:(
September 28, 2024
A novel in free verse. Now that's novel! I liked this book, related to the character in many ways, and thought the book was well-written, except I wanted more of an end. I guess the ending would have been hard to do though.
This idea, writing novel prose in free verse is one I want to try myself now. Thank you for inspiring me!
This idea, writing novel prose in free verse is one I want to try myself now. Thank you for inspiring me!
September 26, 2023
It was an okay book. Didn't really catch my attention. Probably because it was a poem book. But it was sad due to everyone betraying Laren, or vice versa sometimes. But she was very lonely and didn't deserve half if what she went through. It was a good book, but I wouldn't read again.
October 17, 2013
Laren (rhymes with Karen) has committed a cardinal sin of friendship: she's taken up with her best friends ex-boyfriend, Scott. As a result she loses all of her friends and her Facebook friends list shrinks rapidly. Even Scott doesnt' seem as committed as he did at first.
However, all that drama is nothing compared to the death of her father. His death sends the family scattering in all directions. Her 9-year-old brother decides he's a vegetarian and her mother has begun to make over anything that will stand still. Laren herself is having trouble dealing with his death. She finds herself seeing a counselor once a week at school. She refuse to discuss her father with him. But she finds it cathartic to write her deceased father letters expressing her feelings. This proves especially useful when it comes to light that his father was unfaithful to her mother. This piece of information is more devastating to Laren than his death.
This is an interesting and quick read. But the book ends with a few loose ends. Readers never learn why Laren's mother is as closed off as she is. Also the mystery behind the brothers random vegetarianism is never explained. Laren's realization regarding Scott of once a cheater always a cheater is refreshing but it doesn't tie in well with her father's affair.
Give to teens (especially girls) who need a book that they can read in one sitting of about an hour.
However, all that drama is nothing compared to the death of her father. His death sends the family scattering in all directions. Her 9-year-old brother decides he's a vegetarian and her mother has begun to make over anything that will stand still. Laren herself is having trouble dealing with his death. She finds herself seeing a counselor once a week at school. She refuse to discuss her father with him. But she finds it cathartic to write her deceased father letters expressing her feelings. This proves especially useful when it comes to light that his father was unfaithful to her mother. This piece of information is more devastating to Laren than his death.
This is an interesting and quick read. But the book ends with a few loose ends. Readers never learn why Laren's mother is as closed off as she is. Also the mystery behind the brothers random vegetarianism is never explained. Laren's realization regarding Scott of once a cheater always a cheater is refreshing but it doesn't tie in well with her father's affair.
Give to teens (especially girls) who need a book that they can read in one sitting of about an hour.
January 6, 2013
Teen Laren Olivier has done the unspeaken--fallen in love with the boyfriend of one of her best friends. Not unsurprisingly, when their relationship goes public, her friends shun her, and she is forced to make new friends and see where things go with Scott. Almost from the beginning, though, she should have known better since their relationship is built on dishonesty and he seems more concerned with himself than Laren. When her father dies as the result of a car crash, she no longer has her father's support, and rumors about what he was doing when he had the accident undercut what she thinks she knows about her family. With counselling and support from surprising places, even through writing, Laren survives a difficult year and has plenty of good memories to cherish as well as the future to embrace. Telling this story as a verse novel works very well since it allows readers to read between the lines and wonder about how Laren and her younger brother will cope with the changes in their lives.
April 20, 2014
Written in poems, this book is about girl named Laren who's trying to deal with her dad's death, and other typical teenage problems. Laren's boyfriend is her best friend's ex, people are saying that her dad was cheating on her mom before he died, and she's going through therapy. She starts to write letters to her dad about her life and what's she's been through since he passed. After making some new friends, and months of therapy, she's finally happier. The book closed up with Scott cheating on Laren, but Laren was quick to realize, and broke up with him, and she's learning to forgive her dad's mistakes.
I picked up this book because it was apart of the red maple 2014 books. I think that the Rep Maple books have helped me to read various genres of books, and read stuff that is not sci-fi.
I finished the book because, I thought it was a really relaxing book, and I wanted to see if her dad did really cheat.
I would recommend this to Tara because she's a calm person, and I think she would like to read a relaxing book.
I picked up this book because it was apart of the red maple 2014 books. I think that the Rep Maple books have helped me to read various genres of books, and read stuff that is not sci-fi.
I finished the book because, I thought it was a really relaxing book, and I wanted to see if her dad did really cheat.
I would recommend this to Tara because she's a calm person, and I think she would like to read a relaxing book.
April 9, 2014
This book was interesting and had a few twists. The main turning point in the book was when Lauren's father died all of a sudden. Then the author made another turn when she said her father was with another woman in the car crash. It always kept you wondering what was going to happen next. I also liked how the author wrote the book. It was in almost like a diary form, and was easy to read. This book, however is not on of my favourites, because I don't really like books that are realistic. In this book it had a lot of girl drama and problems that happen in life, and I don't really enjoy reading books like that. I like books that are interesting, adventure, and fictional, but yet still have a good story plot to it. Over all, this book was ok, it just wasn't the book for me.
May 11, 2014
I have mixed feelings about this verse novel. It makes great use of the verse form (an interesting note in the front mentions that the author original wrote it as prose and I think verse suited this story and tone really well).
However, there's a bit of a heavy hand at work here in terms of the black and white consequences of Laren having a relationship with her BFF's ex. I guess part of this is because as an adult, I've seen this sort of relationship be quite successful and the friends have been able to still be friends etc.
I also had a personal issue with the way Laren's brother's vegetarianism was handled in this story.
However, there's a bit of a heavy hand at work here in terms of the black and white consequences of Laren having a relationship with her BFF's ex. I guess part of this is because as an adult, I've seen this sort of relationship be quite successful and the friends have been able to still be friends etc.
I also had a personal issue with the way Laren's brother's vegetarianism was handled in this story.
April 29, 2014
Laren knows that dating her best friend 's ex boyfriend is wrong. But Laren can't control her feelings so she to dated him anyway. Her friends ditched Laren because she is dating her best friend's ex boyfriend.Later on her dad dies in car accident . Now she is facing loss and the truth.I picked up this book because when Mr. Gould told us about this story I wanted to read it because it's dramatic. I finished this book because I wanted to know more about the dad because I was more interested in his story then Laren. I would recommend this book to Ambika, Noor, Naadira and Elaine because they LOVE dramatic books!
January 17, 2014
This book I thought would be a kind of romantic type book, I guess. but it was more about a tragedy in the main characters life her name is Laren (rhymes with Karen) she had some problems in her life but it was still a good book. the entire book is written as a poem, it was cool but I'm not sure what kind of poem it was, it was still cool. I thought I was actually pretty good because I thought It would be romantic but it was only like 10 pages in the whole book. so overall I liked it and would recommend it. it was short and not a lot of words but still had detail so it was good and I liked it so I would say it was a great book.
April 22, 2014
I thought counting back from nine was a well written book that was able to make you have certain feelings towards some characters. I liked how it was written in poems and although it wasn't as memorable, it did remind me of libertad. Some of the things that I didn't like in this story were the more unrealistic events like when Larens "friends" weren't there for her in a time of need or some of the reactions from the characters. Overall, I thought it was an okay book but if the author were able to make it more realistic I think I would've enjoyed it more.
March 31, 2014
I thought that this book was okay, but I didn't really like it that much. One reason was that I didn't really connect with it at any part and i think that connecting with a story helps you better understand it and for that reason I did not understand most of the book. Her father dying was by far the most significant thing in the book and how she finds out that there was another woman in the car with her dad at the time of the crisis
I thought was pretty cool but other then that i did not really like the book.
I thought was pretty cool but other then that i did not really like the book.
April 25, 2014
I personally liked reading this story. I found it to be interesting to understand not only Laren's point of view, but also her friends. I have learned that her friends are the ones that when you make a huge mistake, forgiveness just disappears and never comes back. I find it odd how they expect you to like never make a huge mistake? We are not robots. Also Laren did understand she was wrong. The story is sad but overall it's still a good story. I recommend this book to those who like to read books that no matter how hard times can be, that you are still able to move on.
January 23, 2014
This is a small (badly titled) story. I had a lot of sympathy, even admiration, for Laren, the narrator and main character, but I got tired of being chained to her point of view. I wanted to know more about her brother, her mother, her friends. These characters were much better than one-dimensional, but they were all given bit parts in the all-Laren-all-the-time tale. I'm sure that was the point of the book, but it became tedious at times.
March 30, 2014
This book was pretty good but it was confusing because it was in the format of her mind and what she is thinking I really did not like her ex friends because when her dad got into a car crash one of her friends put a note into her locker saying "your dad got into the char she because he was too busy with his hands up his girlfriends skirt"and that was because she was dating her ex boy friend this book will probably not get my vote
January 17, 2016
It was very cool and unique. I enjoy how this was very easy to understand. It is fully written in short and easy poems! Very different from the usual super descriptive books with so too much details on the surroundings: windows, curtains, floors, skies,...everything! This novel brings so much of the plot into focus and less of the unnecessary points. "Quality over quantity" It tells us how much we can say in such few words.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews