One Is Not A Lonely Number

by Evelyn Krieger, Leah Larson

Thirteen-year-old Talia Shumacher is the only child of a wealthy orthodox couple, known for their hospitality. As Talia becomes a teenager, her parents' open-door policy begins to irritate her. When Gabrielle Markus, an eccentric twenty-three-year old ballet dancer shows up one day, Talia's life is turned upside down. Convinced that Gabrielle is harboring a secret, Talia and her friends set out to uncover it. Along the way, Talia must deal with the loneliness she feels as an only child living in a religious community that celebrates large families. In discovering Gabrielle's secret, Talia discovers secrets about herself and her parents. Talia's gift for math and her unusual way of thinking about numbers is woven into the story along with themes of friendship, individuality, and acceptance.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

344 pages, Paperback

First published June 9, 2010

About the author

As the oldest of six children, I've always wondered what it would be like to be an Only. The inspiration for my book came many years ago when I was a guest at the home of a very gracious orthodox Jewish couple in Brooklyn. They had a spunky 7 year old only child who gave up her bedroom for me and slept on the couch. She told me that she was used to doing this. The little girl made quite an impression on me and I wondered what she'd be like as a teenager and if she'd still be an only child.

I also happen to love math, especially teaching it to disgruntled students. So I made the young narrator of my book have a special relationship with numbers.

I'm a veteran homeschool mom and currently at work on a contemporary teen novel.

Reviews

[Ari Noth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. ALthough I think the publisher was aiming for a YA genre I think its more middle grade based on the age of the main characters. So, I myself am a reform jew so I actually really enjoyed learning about how the more conservative families live. However, if your not into jewish lit it also does an amazing job of informing the world of problems that come from death, money, and even your family beliefs. Granted you need to order teh book from teh website or amazon I still really enjoyed it. It was hard to put it down. Its great if your a jew trying to find yourself, or your religion. Or even if you enjoy a good story. I love any good story that doesnt preach and this book did that. I hope you enjoy it also :)

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thirteen-year-old math-whiz, Talia Schumacher, the narrator of One Is Not A Lonely Number by Evelyn Krieger, is an only child who wishes she wasn’t. All her friends in her Jewish day school have siblings, which makes her want a sibling even more. Talia lives in a large home in the fictional town of Greensborough, Massachusetts with her wealthy and hospitable parents. Each week Talia’s Mother and Father host a variety of guests for the Jewish Sabbath as well as other holidays. “Our house is an open house,” Mrs. Schumacher tells Talia when she complains about having so many guests. Talia doesn’t understand why her parents go above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to Jewish hospitality. One day, Gabrielle Markus, a twenty-three-year-old, soul-searching ballet-dancer shows up on the Schumacher’s doorstep. After a couple weeks go by, Talia realizes that Gabrielle isn’t leaving anytime soon. Gabrielle’s eccentric personality is driving Talia nuts. Soon Gabrielle becomes involved in Talia’s life in more ways than she would like. Talia is sure Gabrielle is hiding a secret, and with the help of her three best friends, she sets out to learn more about Gabrielle’s mysterious past. Along the way, Talia discovers truths about herself, friendship, and family.
Talia’s personality and quirky number sense adds a special touch to this story, and themes of loneliness, friendship and unity are weaved into this fantastic read. The author breathes life into the characters through dialogue, personality and bits of humor. The twists and turns in the story kept me reading all night. Girls will enjoy this unique and highly interesting read from start to finish!

[Amy]

Thirteen-year-old Talia just wants to be a normal kid from a normal family. Instead, she's an only child in a community of large families, her family is wealthy, and her parents constantly invite guests to stay for Shabbat. (Talia is an Orthodox Jew, and the book provides a fascinating peek into life in an observant Jewish home.) The book is rich with details that ring so true for the age--from the games the girls play, the lessons in school, and the interactions between friends. I loved Talia's connection to numbers and the way she saw the world in relation to them; plus, there are important life-truths about friendship, family and honesty.

[Audreygold · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story about 13 year old Orthodox Jewish girl's life. The predictable plot wasn't particularly original. Clever use of math trivia.

[Channah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing was a bit choppy- the main character randomly inserted thoughts, often beginning with "hey", something that annoyed me after the first few times.
The Jewish part was done very well, and the plot was pretty good. I completely understood Talia's feelings, although all of her money made her kind of look like a spoiled brat (she wasn't.) I liked that the "nemesis", Hannah (I wonder why it's Hannah and not Chana/Channa/Channah... I don't remember any other names being translated like that) was actually just a normal(even nice) person who our narrator happened not to like.
Gabrielle was a bit strange, and I felt there was a lot to her story that we never found out, but she also rang very true to me. She reminded me strongly of someone I once knew, and that made the story feel real and had me very interested in whether the outcome would be happy.
Which brings me to the ending, which is actually quite realistic (as was the whole book). I've seen that other people were unhappy with it, but I thought it was pretty good.
The setting was realistic, although I don't know how many of the schools/families really exist. It was very familiar to me, but not so set in one place that it wouldn't feel just as familiar to others reading it.
A great start for YM Books (hopefully someday they'll publish more), and a good read for any Jewish girl (it's probably kind of culturally alien for anyone else, although explanations are provided for most things, so if you want to read it it's probably worth a try).

This is (I think) the first book I've read by an author that I know, which I found made the whole experience really interesting, as I could guess/ knew more about the writing process and why the author did what she did than I normally would.

All in all, a fun read, but nothing too deep. This is a pre-teen to early teen book, not really YA fiction.

[Madeline Steinik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talia doesn't want to be an only child. She gets the chance to have a 'sister' when Gabrielle comes to stay with the family. Gabrielle is a 23-year old dancer from Texas who dropped out of the NYC Ballet and needs somewhere to live. And unfortunately, Gabrielle is not the 'sister' Talia wanted. Gabrielle plays her guitar and makes popcorn and is so annoying that Talia resorts to calling her 'Gabbers'. To make matters worse, Gabrielle is dancing in a play at Talia's school, which Talia hates. Why should she get all the attention?

As the school's resident math whiz, Talia needs to practice for the math competition with her nemesis, Hannah. Fortunately, Liora, Talia's friend, ends up on the math team as well. As you would expect, Talia creams the competition, getting first place. But Liora doesn't do as well, and she gets mad at Talia for dragging her into the competition. After some tough times, the girls make up, but Liora decides she's going to be friends with Hannah.

Every year Talia's family goes away for Passover. But this year, they're going to stay home, and Talia is NOT happy... especially since she thinks it's because of Gabrielle. Even worse is when Passover comes, Hannah and Liora are guests for dinner. Fortunately, the girls decide to all become friends.

In the end, Gabrielle ends up going to a program in Israel, and Talia ends up at math camp. Maybe it's not so bad being an only child.

I thought this book was great. I could totally relate to this book since like Talia, I have a friend named Ruth from Baltimore with blonde hair and blue eyes and brothers. I also thought it was funny that Talia called Gabrielle 'Gabbers'.

[Nessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I’m conflicted on this one. I think this book tried to be too many things at once. But I love the fact that it exists, being about an Orthodox Jewish girl, and all.

I’ll explain. The story itself is fine — the book follows the protagonist, Talia, through certain realizations about herself and the world. But the book touches on so many things that it felt a bit...undeveloped. For example, Talia is revealed to have synesthesia early in the book. But her synesthesia is barely mentioned again. She vaguely wonders at some point if it’s normal for her to see a flash of blue at mention of the number eight. Synesthesia is a fascinating reality to live with, and I felt like it could have been further fleshed out, or even, left out. But to just mention it, and not really develop it is a disservice.

Overall, though, it was a nice book. I think it really managed to capture the experience of tweenage-hood for a bunch of Orthodox Jewish girls, and I would like to see more of that in literature — Orthodox Judaism that exists as a reality for a character, and not something they grapple with.

So, while I definitely value this book for what it contributes to Jewish children’s literature, and it was engaging, at a level, this wasn’t a favorite of mine.

[Ally · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty neat book! I liked the main character well enough, and the math was pretty awesome!

[Chach · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read! By Evelyn Kreiger! Great start for YM Books

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrific story of growing up, figuring out friendship and family.

[Garrett Zecker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Kreiger’s YA novel at bedtime with my nine year old son, and her story and content matter were a fresh look at the young lives of community members who aren’t traditionally represented in film and literature – in this case, an adopted Asian-American young woman who attends a conservative Jewish day school. We got this book for free through PJ library, and it was a great selection that surprised me in terms of its accurate representation of code-switching in a variety of circumstances, whether it be the examination of one’s role in one’s friendship circles, to one’s perceived academic performance, one’s role in family, one’s performance in their faith, and what it means to grow up in a supportive group of women.

I enjoyed this book’s message of a young woman’s navigation of her adolescence and immediate family, friends, and social groups. What I enjoyed most about this book, perhaps, is my familiarity with the communities and locales featured in the book. I thought there was some major issues throughout in terms of storytelling, however. I found many dialogue conversations containing a lot of fluff that was unnecessary, and some major punctuation and grammar issues. Some of the problems were somewhat surprising as I believe I had a third edition of the text, and I found them distracting and somewhat amateur oversights for the editors of the book.

Regardless, I think that the central message of the novel holds more benefits than my issues with the text itself – and my nine year old wouldn’t have noticed any of it. It was a worthwhile, wholesome piece with a great message, and it focused on a community and main character that I have never seen represented outside of its pages. Kudos to Kreiger on the story, but could have had vast improvement in editing for content and proofing before printing.