Since her mother's death, fifteen-year-old Jem has kept a secret. When her eyes meet someone else's, a number pops into her head - the date on whic...
read full description
reviews
Aug 22, 2010
Jennifer
rated it: 
Rachel Ward has written a really dirty and gritty novel here, one that will stick with me for a while...the ending was packed with a very sad punch...and the last few sentences really left me wanting Numbers 2, The Chaos!
So while, I was sure in the beginning this novel was NOT one I would like, thinking I would never finish it, in the end it's a 4 mushroom book for me! A book that reminded me that, while it might take a while, you need to give a book a chance...it just might turn out More...
So while, I was sure in the beginning this novel was NOT one I would like, thinking I would never finish it, in the end it's a 4 mushroom book for me! A book that reminded me that, while it might take a while, you need to give a book a chance...it just might turn out More...
2 comments
like
(13 people liked it)
Oct 25, 2011
Sam
rated it: 
Imagine if every time you looked into someone's eyes you saw the date they would die.
This is the overwhelming burden Jem, our protagonist, has to carry.
Jem has hardly had what you would call a stable childhood; with no dad around and her mother dying when she was seven, Jem has been forced to live with her fair share of foster parents. It doesn't help that her dreaded 'gift' prevents her from getting close to people.
Yet when she lets Spider - a young male an More...
This is the overwhelming burden Jem, our protagonist, has to carry.
Jem has hardly had what you would call a stable childhood; with no dad around and her mother dying when she was seven, Jem has been forced to live with her fair share of foster parents. It doesn't help that her dreaded 'gift' prevents her from getting close to people.
Yet when she lets Spider - a young male an More...
0 comments
like
(4 people liked it)
Jun 16, 2011
Emily
rated it:
I was pleasantly suprised by this book, I really liked the story and the exploration of the underclasses and labelling in society. The questions asked about the current justice system in Britain and whether or not the police are simply looking for a likely candidate to blame, are often a question faced in reality. The exploration of racial issues also gives insight into a dark world where the police see a black boy (or girl, but less so) automatically as a criminal or at least a suspect.
More...
More...
0 comments
like
(7 people liked it)
Jun 28, 2010
Arlene
rated it:
I've been going back and forth on how I wanted to rate this book, and I'm still not sure it's worth a full three stars, but that's what it's going to get from me at least for right now. I guess I was expecting something more… maybe different from Numbers by Rachel Ward. It wasn't really creepy, dramatic, suspenseful nor intriguing at any grand or significant scale. The story just shifted my suspended reality from here to there with no consistent path or flow, but I never really lost interest,
More...
13 comments
like
(7 people liked it)
Feb 01, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
Jem has an unusual gift: when she looks people in the eye, a set of numbers pops into her head. When she was younger, she thought nothing of this. However, when her mother dies of an overdose, the numbers suddenly make sense to 6 year old Jem: the numbers are the month, day, and year on which the person in question will die.
Now 15 years old, Jem has lived a tough life in inner-city London. Shuffled from foster home to foster home and understandably withdrawn and guarded because More...
Now 15 years old, Jem has lived a tough life in inner-city London. Shuffled from foster home to foster home and understandably withdrawn and guarded because More...
0 comments
like
(6 people liked it)
May 29, 2011
Eliora
rated it:
http://scholarberry.blogspot.com/
"While I existed, the number existed. I was the number and the number was me."
You'd think that Jem is just the ordinary wallflower, the kind that skips the class and avoid social structures. The kind that would grow up just like her failure mother, a junkie who never cared about her own daughter.
It's true Jem doesn't understand most people, but the real reason why she avoids people (specifically eye contact) is becaus More...
"While I existed, the number existed. I was the number and the number was me."
You'd think that Jem is just the ordinary wallflower, the kind that skips the class and avoid social structures. The kind that would grow up just like her failure mother, a junkie who never cared about her own daughter.
It's true Jem doesn't understand most people, but the real reason why she avoids people (specifically eye contact) is becaus More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Sep 30, 2010
FictionVixen
rated it:
Jem can see the death date of people by looking into their eyes. As if that’s not a big enough burden to bear, Jem lost her mother to a drug overdose as a young child and is now in the foster care system. She considers herself an outcast and does her best to avoid personal relationships.
When she meets Spider another so-called outcast, Jem gives in to her loneliness and she slowly begins to build a friendship with him. One day when spending a day together in London they witness a More...
When she meets Spider another so-called outcast, Jem gives in to her loneliness and she slowly begins to build a friendship with him. One day when spending a day together in London they witness a More...
2 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Apr 17, 2011
Julie H.
rated it:
Num8ers is the unlikely love story of Jemma (a.k.a. Jem) and Terry (a.k.a. Spider, nicknamed for his constant and ungainly motion). Jemma is a child of the foster care system who at age six found her mother's dead body after a heroin overdose. All her life, she has learned not to form attachments because the people she loves either don't love her in return or they all leave. Jem goes through life making as little eye contact and no physical contact whatsoever with the people around her. This
More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Apr 21, 2011
Ericaj
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Aug 01, 2011
Megan
rated it:
Loved it! Numbers is the story of Jem; a fifteen year old girl who has spent over half her life orphaned and bounced from family to family in the foster care system. Therefore, it almost goes without saying that she is a troubled girl with issues a plenty. In addition to the crap load of, well crap life has piled on her; Jem sees a number whenever she looks someone in the eye. That number is always there, always the same, and it is the date that person will die. As a result, Jem grows up learni
More...
6 comments
like
(5 people liked it)
Dec 22, 2011
Ruth
rated it:
Review before finishing the book:
I'm sorry to my friend who willingly spent her money just to buy me this disappointing book for Christmas. When I read the overview, I was like, "This is going to be a great book!", and so, I spent months craving for this book since I don't have the time to buy and read it, until my oh so good friend gave it to me as Christmas gift. I was so excited to read it!! but...
It.was.horrible. The plot was just so irrelevant to the supposed m More...
I'm sorry to my friend who willingly spent her money just to buy me this disappointing book for Christmas. When I read the overview, I was like, "This is going to be a great book!", and so, I spent months craving for this book since I don't have the time to buy and read it, until my oh so good friend gave it to me as Christmas gift. I was so excited to read it!! but...
It.was.horrible. The plot was just so irrelevant to the supposed m More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 04, 2011
Andrea
rated it:
i choose this book to read because it seemed very interest, this book is fiction. the main character is jem and she is very unique because since her mother die she knew about the numbers she saw on people everytime she saw them on the eyes. she lives with a foster mom her name is karen and she is not happy she describes herself different like she doesn't belong there. in school she has a hard time trying to be with otheres she avoids them because she doesn't wants to see their numbers. one day w
More...
Oct 11, 2010
Erica -
rated it:
What if you knew the day that someone, everyone would die? Could you live with that secret?
Jem lives with the burden of knowing everyone's numbers. She's known about the numbers since she was a little girl. In her stroller, she used to tell her mom everyone the numbers but it's not until her mother dies that she knows exactly what the numbers mean. When she looks someone in the eye, she sees the numbers in her head.
Knowing people's numbers, Jem avoids friendships and relationships until she meet More...
Jem lives with the burden of knowing everyone's numbers. She's known about the numbers since she was a little girl. In her stroller, she used to tell her mom everyone the numbers but it's not until her mother dies that she knows exactly what the numbers mean. When she looks someone in the eye, she sees the numbers in her head.
Knowing people's numbers, Jem avoids friendships and relationships until she meet More...
Jan 24, 2012
Annie
rated it: 
Reading this book was agonising.
I wanted to like it so much. Jem’s ability is great. The message of the novel is interesting. The concept holds so much promise, but gets seriously bungled up due to the shoddy writing, silly characters and insipid plot.
I didn’t like the writing—it felt kind of messy to me. In my opinion, the story is told in a very dull way. I don’t know, it had the potential to be interesting, but it fell flat in that area.
And the characters! They More...
I wanted to like it so much. Jem’s ability is great. The message of the novel is interesting. The concept holds so much promise, but gets seriously bungled up due to the shoddy writing, silly characters and insipid plot.
I didn’t like the writing—it felt kind of messy to me. In my opinion, the story is told in a very dull way. I don’t know, it had the potential to be interesting, but it fell flat in that area.
And the characters! They More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 03, 2012
Amanda (Born Bookish)
rated it: 
I was torn with whether I even wanted to finish reading this book or not. One minute I had decided that I wasn’t going to read it anymore and then I would decide that I wanted to see how things played out. I went back and forth, back and forth the whole book.
I was really intrigued by the whole plot of this book. A girl who sees the date someone is going to die whenever she looks into his or her eyes. Why can she see this? What does she do about it? How does she deal with it? I was More...
I was really intrigued by the whole plot of this book. A girl who sees the date someone is going to die whenever she looks into his or her eyes. Why can she see this? What does she do about it? How does she deal with it? I was More...
Nov 20, 2011
Pretty in Fiction
rated it:
Review originally posted here.
Title: Numbers
Author: Rachel Ward
Publisher: Chicken House (Scholastic)
Pub. Date: February, 2010
Rating: 3.7 Crazy Hearts
Read an excerpt here!
Imagine, for a moment, that ever since you were a little kid you could see people’s numbers. Not just any numbers, mind you, but numbers that signified the date of their deaths.
Now imagine that one day you’re wandering around, minding your own business, when More...
Title: Numbers
Author: Rachel Ward
Publisher: Chicken House (Scholastic)
Pub. Date: February, 2010
Rating: 3.7 Crazy Hearts
Read an excerpt here!
Imagine, for a moment, that ever since you were a little kid you could see people’s numbers. Not just any numbers, mind you, but numbers that signified the date of their deaths.
Now imagine that one day you’re wandering around, minding your own business, when More...
Oct 25, 2011
Carol
rated it:
Jem has a unique gift, curse, talent. Whatever you want to call it, it makes her life miserable, causing her to isolate herself from everyone else. You see, if Jem looks in a person's eyes, she sees a number. It is the date that person will die. Despite her best intentions she gets involved with a fellow misfit named Spider. Jem is especially reluctant to grow close to him as his number is only three weeks away. The duo are hanging out in downtown London when she notices that everyone around her
More...
Oct 18, 2011
Sarai
rated it:
I liked this book all right. I felt like more could have been done with the characters, I guess. They were interesting and I wanted to know more about them, but the story kept more to the action of running away. The running actually bored me a bit. And the whole thing with the tower at the end was very predictable. I was also annoyed with the character's waffling around - can I control it, I'm helpless, yada yada yada. I felt like it was mentioned once that she wondered if she could control the
More...
Oct 09, 2011
Amy
rated it:
The book Numbers is about this fifteen year old girl named Jem who has an amazing gift of reading people's death dates by looking into their eyes. Jem and her best friend Spider goes under all of these crazy problems at school. But then, something terrible has happened... When Jem and Spider had decided to go to a carnival late at night, Jem suddenly gets a reading of the same death dates of over 10 people at the carnival. What was going on? Scared, Jem and Spider runs away minutes before the in
More...
Oct 07, 2011
Romaine
rated it:
It is said the eyes are the window to the soul. Imagine just by looking at someone in the eye you can see the date they will die... Numbers is a story of just this a young girl who can look at someone and see that date they will die. This story is heart warming about a girl who avoids relationship and looking at people because you know the one secret they don't. A girl who is scared of forming relationships because if she does she will be left alone and always be aware of the day that will happe
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Oct 03, 2011
Angela
rated it:
I am so disappointed with this book. I’ve been looking forward to reading it for a few months now but for me, it just fails to deliver.
The concept of the novel is interesting: Jem, our 15 year old narrator, is able to see the date that someone is going to die once she looks them in the eye. This idea alone made me want to read this book, but now that I’ve finished it, it just feels flat.
Ward’s writing is good but the plot felt very thin and it feels like she has bulked th More...
The concept of the novel is interesting: Jem, our 15 year old narrator, is able to see the date that someone is going to die once she looks them in the eye. This idea alone made me want to read this book, but now that I’ve finished it, it just feels flat.
Ward’s writing is good but the plot felt very thin and it feels like she has bulked th More...
2 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Aug 20, 2011
Ashleigh C.
rated it:
Jem is a very peculiar girl. She separates herself from everyone, no matter who. She has a good reason to though. Whenever she meets someone new she sees a number in their eyes, not just a random number. It’s the date that they’re going to die. Jem was in line one day to ride the London eye with a odd acquaintance Spider. She is instantly freaked out when in everyone’s eyes she sees the same date, today’s day. What huge event could have caused everyone to die? You’ll just have to read to
More...
Aug 11, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
Sometimes a novel comes along just at the *right* time, and Numbers by Rachel Ward was one of those books for me. We are experiencing riots here in the UK at the moment (hopefully settled down now, fingers crossed) and there has been a lot of discussion about what drove the kids to riot and loot. There was one particular part of Ward's novel that stood out for me and made me sit up: "Why do you think? It's all so simple, isn't it? Tell the truth and it will all be all right. Maybe it's like
More...
Jul 28, 2011
Brina
rated it:
Jem ist eine Einzelgängerin. Aber das stört sie nicht, sie ist es gerne, denn so kann sie sich von Menschen fernhalten und vermeiden, ihnen in die Augen zu schauen. Sie hat eine ganz besondere Gabe, denn sie kann in den Augen der Menschen deren Todesdatum ist.
Als sie auf ihren Mitschüler Spinne trifft, sieht sie sein Todesdatum – er hat nur noch 3 Monate zu leben. Doch so sehr sie sich auch gegen den Kontakt zu ihm wehrt, freunden sie sich immer mehr an.
Jedoch steckt diese Fr More...
Als sie auf ihren Mitschüler Spinne trifft, sieht sie sein Todesdatum – er hat nur noch 3 Monate zu leben. Doch so sehr sie sich auch gegen den Kontakt zu ihm wehrt, freunden sie sich immer mehr an.
Jedoch steckt diese Fr More...
Jun 28, 2011
Nina
rated it:
"Since the day her mother died, Jem has known about the numbers."
Jem has a hard time trusting people ever since her mother died of an overdose. Her life has been difficult as she is switched from one foster home to another. For now, she lives with Karen and her two twins. The shadows are her friends, or at least, what she is comfortable with. In the dark, she can't see people's eyes and thus can't see their numbers. Her curse was the ability to see into people's futures. Th More...
Jem has a hard time trusting people ever since her mother died of an overdose. Her life has been difficult as she is switched from one foster home to another. For now, she lives with Karen and her two twins. The shadows are her friends, or at least, what she is comfortable with. In the dark, she can't see people's eyes and thus can't see their numbers. Her curse was the ability to see into people's futures. Th More...
Jun 08, 2011
Lucy
rated it:
More like 3.5 stars. Numbers tells the story of fifteen-year-old Jem, a girl haunted by numbers. Looking into the eyes of a complete stranger, she can instantly see their number - the day they'll die. This gift - or curse - leads Jem and her best friend Spider into a world of trouble when they get caught up in a national disaster which Jem predicts just moments before it happens.
Numbers is a book I've had my eye on for a while, and it's a decent read. I enjoyed the Britishness of i More...
Numbers is a book I've had my eye on for a while, and it's a decent read. I enjoyed the Britishness of i More...
Jun 02, 2011
Zoe
rated it:
Okay, so, usually, I try to be nice about reviewing a book, because writing a novel is hard, but I did not like Numbers. Like, at all.
I thought it was a really cool idea, that Jem could see the date of people's deaths, but I feel like that wasn't really the most important part of the plot.
It was like, "hey, this girl and her boyfriend are on the run from the police, even though they really didn't do anything wrong, but since they were suspiciously running from the s More...
I thought it was a really cool idea, that Jem could see the date of people's deaths, but I feel like that wasn't really the most important part of the plot.
It was like, "hey, this girl and her boyfriend are on the run from the police, even though they really didn't do anything wrong, but since they were suspiciously running from the s More...
0 comments
like
(7 people liked it)
May 22, 2011
Zoe
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
May 16, 2011
Michelle
rated it:
Num8ers is the first book in the Numbers series by Rachel Ward and a YA novel from The Chicken House.
Book Blurb:
For as long as she can remember, Jem has known about the numbers.
Numbers that pop into her head when she looks into someone’s eyes. They’re dates, the numbers. Dates predicting with brute accuracy each person’s death.
Burdened by such grim knowledge, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. More...
Book Blurb:
For as long as she can remember, Jem has known about the numbers.
Numbers that pop into her head when she looks into someone’s eyes. They’re dates, the numbers. Dates predicting with brute accuracy each person’s death.
Burdened by such grim knowledge, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. More...
Apr 24, 2011
Lisa
rated it:
The idea behind this novel was very interesting...a person who could see everyone's date of death. I wasn't sure how this concept was going to be portrayed but I think the author did a great job with it. Jem definitely struggled with what to do with the information she knew about others. It was a internal battle between deciding if she should tell people or give this information to herself.
Jem had a hard time forming relationships and I can understand why. If I knew exactly wh More...
Jem had a hard time forming relationships and I can understand why. If I knew exactly wh More...
