Numbers

BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION:

Numbers. Ward, Rachel. Chicken House, New York. ISBN 978-0-545-14299-1

PLOT SUMMARY:

Jem is a fifteen-year old living in England. Her mother died and she has been in and out of foster homes ever since. However, Jem is special. When she looks at people she sees eight numbers: month, day, and year. It is the date of their death. Because of this Jem avoids getting too close to people, she can barely look them in the eye. It is burden for Jem; it prevents her from developing relationships. When she meets Spider, that all changes. She sees his death date, and it’s coming up soon. She tries to stay away, yet she is drawn to him. Jem and Spider are in London when there is a bombing. They are in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now the police are looking for them.

CRITICAL EVALUATION:

Numbers seems to follow a common theme of teens being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The book was written by an English author, takes place in and was originally released in England. Because of this, the slang used in the book can be somewhat difficult to understand. I found myself using Google to figure out what certain words meant. This does take away from the reading experience. However, moving past the vocabulary in the book, I think that teens will really enjoy this book. It portrays teens in a realistic light. The characters of Spider and Jem are on their own, it’s them against the world. Many teens feel this way and will be able to relate to the characters. By adding a bit of the paranormal with Jem seeing death dates, Ward allows the reader to relate to Jem as a teen that is hiding something. She is afraid to tell anyone about the death dates, she fears she will be locked up in a mental institution. Although many teens do not live in fear of being sent to a mental institution, they may live in fear of revealing certain things about themselves for fear of being ostracized by their peers. Numbers is a book that many teens will be able to relate to as well as enjoy.

READER’S ANNOTATION:

Every time Jem looks at someone she sees the day that they will die. When Jem and Spider are at the scene of a bombing things go from bad to worse and now they are on the run.

AUTHOR:

Rachel Ward is a fortysomething author, currently writing novels for teenagers and young adults. Her first novel, Numbers, was published in January 2009, and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and longlisted for the Carnegie Medal. She lives in Bath, UK, with her husband and two teenage children.

Her likes include: reading, early mornings, dogs (especially lurchers and collies), cats (even the mean ones), being at home with her family, swimming (especially outdoors), watching TV, vegetarian food, Fair-trade anything, kindness, Bath, Keynsham, Swanage, Cornwall, Washington State, Alaska, watching films, potatoes in all their lovely forms, going to gigs and of course writing.

Her dislikes are: too much noise, being late, being patronized, being bullied, prawn cocktail crisps, dark mornings and dark evenings.

Numbers is the first book of the trilogy. The Chaos is currently in bookstores and the third book Infinity is due out in June in England. (Ward)

GENRE:

Thriller, Fantasy

CURRICULUM TIES:

English

BOOK TALKING IDEAS:

What would you do if every time you looked at someone you saw the date they were going to die?
Running from the police even though they didn’t do anything.
Feeling like an outsider.

READING LEVEL/INTEREST AGE:

Age 14 and up

CHALLENGE ISSUES:

Sex, smoking, drinking, disregard for authority, language

In order to prepare yourself should this book be challenged you may wish to take the following steps:

•Read the book or familiarize yourself with the book and its contents.
•Refer to the library’s collection development policy.
•Read the book reviews from sources such as Booklist, School Library Journal, Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA), Publisher’s Weekly, or BookSpot.com
•Seek the opinion of teen readers that have read the book.

Should this book be challenged you should follow the additional steps below:

•Advise the senior staff of the challenge.
•Let the patron know that their challenge will be filed and that senior library management will review their request and notify them once a decision has been made.
•Offer any further assistance should the patron have additional questions.

WHY DID I INCLUDE THIS BOOK?

I was browsing the stacks in the teen room and though this book would be an interesting read.