Noughts & Crosses (Noughts & Crosses, #1) by Malorie Blackman

Aug 23, 2011 K. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi-dys, ok-fine-its-ya, hit-me-in-the-heart, this-shelf-is-divine, slippery-as-waterweed, own, 21st-cent, goosebumps, identity-and-psychology, major-head-fck, society-culture-and-politics

I've tried to write this review a few times, with articulate choice of words, a structure, intelligent observations and supporting facts to back me up. But I found voicing my feelings about this book difficult. So I gave up. And now I'm just gonna wing it.

First thing's first - Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses absolutely broke me in all ways a reader can be broken. I was walking around trying to enjoy my time in the ever spectacular show that is Times Square but found my mind retreating bac...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: trt-posted-reviews, trt-gold-star-award-winner

Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.com

In NAUGHTS & CROSSES, the author creates a very believable alternate world that is almost like our own--but the main difference is a major one. Everything you think you know about race relations and prejudice holds true, but is switched. The ruling class to which Sephy Hadley's family belongs are the black Crosses, named for their supposed closeness to God. The other, the white Naughts, like Callum and his family, are second-class citizens. In t...more Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.com

In NAUGHTS & CROSSES, the author creates a very believable alternate world that is almost like our own--but the main difference is a major one. Everything you think you know about race relations and prejudice holds true, but is switched. The ruling class to which Sephy Hadley's family belongs are the black Crosses, named for their supposed closeness to God. The other, the white Naughts, like Callum and his family, are second-class citizens. In this world, it's unacceptable for a Naught and a Cross to be real friends, and unthinkable for them to fall in love. Callum and Sephy are breaking all the rules of the society they live in.

The two have known each other from a very young age, when Callum's mother worked in the Hadley household. Even after she loses her job, though, Sephy and Callum remain secretly close. They meet in secrecy, forced to tell lies and make up excuses, but they never stop seeing each other, no matter how difficult it is. Soon, though, they'll see each other every day--but that's not as good as it sounds. A new law has been passed, and a limited number of Naughts will now be allowed to attend Cross schools. Callum has been accepted into Sephy's school, and Sephy's excited to see her best friend more often. Callum, however, knows that letting their friendship be public could prove very dangerous for both of them. Things continue to get worse when Sephy and her mother are nearly caught in a terrorist bombing. Sephy's life is saved when Callum pulls her out of the building just in time, but nobody's fooled--that's no coincidence. Suspicion falls on Callum's family.

Callum's father is the prime suspect in planting the bomb, supposedly on the orders of a radical Naught terrorist group, the Liberation Militia, or L.M. They're devoted to their goals of rights for Naughts, and they'll go to any length to achieve them. This world even has a parallel to Martin Luther King, Jr.; Alex Luther is an activist whose goal is to achieve equality peacefully. Callum's mother is a supporter of his, but Callum's father and brother don't believe that Alex Luther's way of doing things will actually get anything done. The events that unfold after the bombing threaten not only Sephy and Callum's relationship, but their very lives and the lives of those around them.

NAUGHTS & CROSSES is a fantastic story, and one that will keep your mind occupied long past the final pages. The world created in Malorie Blackman's novel is one that is much like our own, and inspires a lot of "what if?" questions. What if that was our world? It's not so far off to imagine. How would our lives be different? They almost certainly would be. You wouldn't be where you are now. You wouldn't be who you are now; everything would be remarkably different, but still so much the same.

Malorie Blackman's writing does plenty to draw you in and keep your attention with the story, not bothering with the excessive and often boring detail used by some authors. It's definitely a page-turner! Sephy and Callum are very well-developed main characters, and the secondary characters are quite believable, as well. The story is told in alternating chapters narrated by Sephy and Callum, which really adds a lot to it. Sephy and Callum are remarkable people, showing the strength that love can have, the bridges it can cross, and the determination to see past what's on the outside. That last quality is one that is, sadly, not as common in our world (or Sephy's and Callum's) as it should be. Sephy and Callum also show how willing children are to love, regardless of the prejudices of their world, before their minds are poisoned by their elders. Sephy and Callum became friends at a young age and, remarkably, they stayed that way (and became more), despite the prejudices of their society. NAUGHTS & CROSSES is a remarkable book, one that you won't want to put down once you've started reading. (less)

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May 15, 2013 Rose rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, tough-subjects, romance, psychological, characters-of-color, favorites, drama, dystopia

I feel an enormous amount of pressure writing this review, but probably not for the reason that you might think. "Noughts and Crosses" tackles very difficult subjects in a multidimensional, emotional way. It features a relationship that has deeper implications than one may figure it on the surface.

To preface the whole of this review, my viewpoints and perspective going into and coming from this book will not speak for any and all who may peruse it - let alone other people of color who may pick...more

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Jan 26, 2009 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Shannon (Giraffe Days) by: Maria M. Elmvang

Shelves: alternate-history, ya, speculative-fiction, 2009

Sephy and Callum are the best of friends. They grew up together and despite the animosity between their families now, they continue to see each other in secret. But as they grow older and the world encroaches on their friendship, they can deny no longer the big glaring barrier between them: Sephy is a Cross, Callum is a nought. Society, the world, their families, will never accept them.

Sephy is the daughter of Kamal Hadley, a successful and important politician who's manoeuvring his way to the t...more Sephy and Callum are the best of friends. They grew up together and despite the animosity between their families now, they continue to see each other in secret. But as they grow older and the world encroaches on their friendship, they can deny no longer the big glaring barrier between them: Sephy is a Cross, Callum is a nought. Society, the world, their families, will never accept them.

Sephy is the daughter of Kamal Hadley, a successful and important politician who's manoeuvring his way to the top seat in parliament while his society wife drinks herself to oblivion. She goes to a posh school by chauffeur-driven car and doesn't really understand the discrimination and prejudice the noughts endure.

Callum knows all too well. From being constantly suspected of every possible crime and assumed the worst of, to being denied an education and treated like he's not just stupid but incapable of learning the skills the Crosses have - every day he faces the fact that he's lower than second-class because of one arbitrary fact he has no control over: the colour of his skin.

Yes, Callum is white and he's suffered all his life for it.

Blackman has taken our own history and flipped it around - but it's not an exact mirror-image: the situation of the noughts is far worse in legal terms than what non-whites suffer today in most developed countries (I want to stress the word "legal" here - in Noughts & Crosses, the law doesn't protect the noughts but takes the guilty before proven innocent stance - we have at least moved away from that, though it doesn't change what goes through people's heads still).

Blackman isn't trying to make dark-skinned people look bad and white people sympathetic; she's highlighting how arbitrary and ridiculous racial prejudice is, and how easily it could have been the other way around. She wrecks havoc on the age-old belief that people of one particular skin colour are naturally more intelligent and talented than others - it may not be scientifically supported anymore but the belief is still there, in some places, amongst some people.

Noughts & Crosses is written alternately in the voices of Sephy and Callum, in short chapters that grant the two differing perspectives. There's pain and tension here, and anger - it's a mature book, and doesn't shy away from the worst of human nature. It's well written, with both Sephy and Callum growing older, more mature, more disillusioned. For a book that's not set anywhere in particular, about a world that doesn't literally exist, it's a very real story because it pokes right at the heart of so many of our problems and makes no apologies for forcing us to look at ourselves.

I would have loved this book had I read it as a teenager, I know that for sure. As an adult, I found the chapters a little brief, a bit hurried, a tad too unsubtle. Which would be fine for an adolescent's attention span.

This edition also includes the short novella, An Eye for an Eye, which comes between this and the next book in the trilogy, Knife's Edge.(less)

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Dec 25, 2012 Book Chick City rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, book-list-2009, favorites

Wow, this book is outstanding. I couldn't put it down! As someone who is in her thirties, I wondered whether this book would be too young and the writing immature, but this wasn't the case at all. This is an intelligently and sensitively written story about two friends, Callum, a white-skinned nought and Sephy a dark-skinned Cross and their relationship as they grow up. How society and the prejudices around them moulds them into people they don't really want to be. It's a story filled with trage...more Wow, this book is outstanding. I couldn't put it down! As someone who is in her thirties, I wondered whether this book would be too young and the writing immature, but this wasn't the case at all. This is an intelligently and sensitively written story about two friends, Callum, a white-skinned nought and Sephy a dark-skinned Cross and their relationship as they grow up. How society and the prejudices around them moulds them into people they don't really want to be. It's a story filled with tragedy and sorrow but also love and friendship. The story is narrated by both Sephy and Callum alternating with each chapter and allows us to see their very different worlds through their eyes.

As a teenager this book would have rocked my world! As much as Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou and The Colour Purple by Alice Walker did as an adult. The frustration and anger felt at the injustice of prejudice spawned from just the colour of a persons skin never left me while reading this book. The black and white racism issue is tuned upside down and the dark-skinned Crosses rule over the white-skinned noughts and treat them like inferior beings. It shows how inequality and prejudice can force people into roles they do not want to be in and actions they don't want to take. This is a seriously thought provoking book and sometimes harsh as the two worlds of Sephy and Callum collide. It is at times heartbreaking, but even with all the sorrow the story is incredibly well paced and I was pulled along with each chapter.

The content is brutal, but it has to be for the story to be authentic. It is also honest and doesn't hide from the fact that the consequences of racism and prejudice can create evil in the form of terrorism. A tale of race and equality, never patronising to it's target audience and giving us no answers to a world that's unforgiving and cruel. The ending is powerful, beautiful and devastating and I cried like a baby.

Verdict:

What can I say that I already haven't said. This is a remarkable novel; brilliantly written with complex characters, moving and thought provoking, full of pain, love and passion. I absolutely loved it and can't wait to read the rest in the series. I highly recommend this book!(less)

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Mar 25, 2008 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone

Recommended to Dan by: People in my 8th grade class

Naughts and Crosses
Malorie Blackman
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2005, 400pp., $15.95
ISBN: 1416900160

Haven’t we all wanted a life where we aren’t be judged by who we are, what we look like, what our opinions are? Well in Naughts and Crosses, that’s the kind of life that the two main character wants but doesn’t get.
Malorie Blackman’s thriller love story, Naughts and Crosses, brings out a society where the darker color skin people have more power than the lighter skin people. B...more Naughts and Crosses
Malorie Blackman
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2005, 400pp., $15.95
ISBN: 1416900160

Haven’t we all wanted a life where we aren’t be judged by who we are, what we look like, what our opinions are? Well in Naughts and Crosses, that’s the kind of life that the two main character wants but doesn’t get.
Malorie Blackman’s thriller love story, Naughts and Crosses, brings out a society where the darker color skin people have more power than the lighter skin people. Blackman creates this world where two characters, each from the opposite side of society, tries to overcome racism and segregation between white and black, as well as trying to survive a deep, compelling, cherishing relationship with one another. Blackman creates a modernized Romeo and Juliet in a sad, depressing, judgmental world.
The book’s point of view changes between Sephy (short for Persephone), a dark skinned girl, about 14 in the beginning of the story, who bears the title of a rich wealthy Cross in society and her best friend, Callum, a light skinned boy, about 15 in the beginning of the story, who is a low life Naught in society. Both characters share the same dream, which is that the society they live in can unite together, both naughts and crosses alike, and stop with the all the segregation in their world. This change in the point of view shows what happens in their heads, versus what’s happening in the story, as with different perspectives gives a twist of how they are to survive in a judgmental society.
When the story progresses, so does their relationship with each other, as once was childhood friends now turned into lovers. While their love grows, so does their battles in society. These battles are reflected upon the battles that they themselves have as a couple. Later on in the story, lover’s quarrel starts to form and becomes a tragic and chaotic life for Sephy and Callum. Yet the tragic deaths of the people they care about most will turn Callum’s love for Sephy into a dark and blazing hatred.
This is the best book I ever read in my life and highly reconmend it to everyone (even those people who hate love stories, they will love this book). At first I wasn’t really interested in modern novels, nor love stories because there wasn’t much “action” in them, yet, after reading the first chapter, it hooks you in and makes you want to read more. I learned that later on in the story, there is more action that meets the eyes, like terrorist bombings, people dying, lovers separating, and a lot of heartwarming scenes. Sorrowful and tearful, the ending deeply moved me and made me cry. Like Romeo and Juliet, this book itself is a tragedy and the ending is so shocking that it will pull your heart from your body and bring tears to your eyes.

-Dan W. Teng
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Aug 03, 2012 Skyla rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, what-if, play-book, bad-government, dystopia

Noughts and Crosses now that sounds much much better than Pearls and Coals. Noughts and Crosses don't indicate race in the name. I like that much better.

So this is the script from the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of "Noughts and Crosses". Richard Madden played Callum and for some reason that makes me very very happy.

Of course with it being a play a lot of the back story and the like have been cut out, but basically this is a what if? story.

As anyone who has studied even a little bit...more Noughts and Crosses now that sounds much much better than Pearls and Coals. Noughts and Crosses don't indicate race in the name. I like that much better.

So this is the script from the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of "Noughts and Crosses". Richard Madden played Callum and for some reason that makes me very very happy.

Of course with it being a play a lot of the back story and the like have been cut out, but basically this is a what if? story.

As anyone who has studied even a little bit of geography or archeology, or has seen Ice Age, knows that all the continents used to be together as one big continent called Pangea. And anyone has studied Archeology also knows that the "heart of evolution" comes from what is now Africa, all the people on the planet (save the aliens that are here hiding out) evolved from a common ancestor lived in what is now Africa. The only reason any other race exist is because some of the people migrated to less harsh climates where they had no need for the dark skin of their brothers because the sun didn't shine so hard.

What would have happened if Pangea had waited longer to separate? What would happen if it hadn't separated at all? The world presented in "Noughts and Crosses" could very well have come about, there were a few little issues with the world because as I said above the only reason there are different races is because of the separation and migration of certain groups to other countries and if Pangea had stayed put it stands to reason that everyone would have stayed darker skinned until the shift and then evolution would have made everyone evolve with lighter skin if they lived in the less harsh sunlight and this story appears to be set in England and it isn't very sunny there but I digress...I feel like this story s just a switch around of the races of black and white making black people (Crosses) the leaders and white people (Noughts) the lower class.

This was the play version so of course everything from the original text is condensed but the story is still there and it was a good one. This is very much a story that needs to be told, it makes you think about life from another race's perspective. Though a lot of progress has been made since slavery those of colour are still thought of as second class citizens in many part of the world and we still teach school children the books and stories of some very racist writers. I to this day cannot read Rudyard Kipling without feeling a little sick to my stomach. And there are still a lot of white people in the world who believe they are the superior race, and that needs to change, my this book could change some people's minds.

Part of the reason I discovered this book was because of another series, whose first book has just been released this year called "Revealing Eden". It "Reveling Eden" apparently the sun killed off a lot of white people because of radiation and the lack of melanin in their skin, so black people are now the ruling class and are called Coals (that doesn't sound racist at all now does it? *sarcasm*), the white people are now called Pearls (a semi-precious gem...that doesn't sound racist at all now does it? *sarcasm again*). The other races all have semi-precious gem names too. Also apparently they have to mate by 18 or get tossed out into the wilderness to die...this book sounds awesome *sarcasm*. I am glad "Reveling Eden" exists if only for the fact it lead me to Malorie Blackman's series.

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Jul 16, 2012 Kajal Nehra rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone!

Shelves: series, made-me-cry, dystopia, favorites, death

"Dear God, please let him have heard me. Please.
Please.
If you're up there.
Somewhere."

Holy fucking hell! What !?? What was this book? Noughts and Crosses is a hands-down 5+ starer. If I’m allowed I wouldn’t give it a half-a-star less than a 100.

Can anyone please answer this question: How do you even go about reviewing this book? How do you even -
God, how are you even in a condition to speak after reading this? My bed is a snotty mess right now and I can’t seem to be able to able to stop bawling...more

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Nov 08, 2007 Rachel Pirie rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is fiction for teenagers so it lacks real depth and could be at times described as a little contrived, but it's easy to read and provides an interesting insight into a world where race relations are the total reverse of the current reality. That said, I'm not sure what message this book was trying to convey, is the message that predjudice will always prevail, or that we should walk in our neighbours shoes before passing judgement. I hope it's the latter but I was left a little unclear, hope...more

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Jun 16, 2012 rubywednesday rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-dystopian

Set in a dystopian world where light-skinned people are subordinate to dark-skinned and slavery hasn't long been abolished, Noughts and Crosses is both tragic and thought provoking.

I imagine part of the writer's intention in publishing this book was to highlight just how illogical racism is, and she does that very well. She's also created a believable and scary world. Released over ten years ago, this book focuses on human nature and psychology, and the lengths people will go to when they are de...more

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May 14, 2010 $$will.b$$ rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book has lots of turns and twists. At the moment Sephie is angry with Callum because he is ignoring her after she called him a blanker!!! At one point Callum got sent out of the class room and Sephie didn't even help him to pick up his chair when he accidently knocked it over. When he went to look at her she just looked away and took no notice of him. Also, the bit that i am reading at the moment is very tense because Callum has come home from a secret meeting with Sephie and he has found h...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Devyani rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Devyani by: Kajal Nehra

Shelves: when-i-scream-epic

“You're a Nought and I'm a Cross and there's nowhere for us to be, nowhere for us to go where we'd be left in peace...That's why I started crying. That's why I couldn't stop. For all the things we might've had and all the things we're never going to have.”

The tears had sprung out of my eyes instantly and had drowned my pillow and me . I cried and cried and cried . I had puffy eyes and I looked horrible . The story is so simple if you think about it , yet what you read is burned into your memor...more

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May 07, 2012 Ambreen Bilgrami rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

‘Noughts and Crosses’ by Malorie Blackman is a bit of a modern day Romeo and Juliet. It is a story of forbidden love but tackles much deeper issues primarily centered around racism and prejudice.

The story follows ‘Callum’ and ‘Seppy’, who fall in love despite their love being unaccepted and forbidden by the society in which they live. Blackman uses first person narrative and does a great job of convincingly voicing the words of Seppy, a ‘Nought’ girl from a wealthy background, to Callum - a you...more

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May 07, 2012 Fatimah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A book which is more suitable for 12+,

within the book the world is divided into two - the dark-skinned Crosses, and the light-skinned Noughts. The Crosses are the rulers, the privileged race; the Noughts are second-class citizens, slaves of the Crosses, and without equal rights in a world torn apart by race and class.

Sephy who is a Cross, the daughter of the powerful Kamal Hadley and Callum who is a Nought, the son of Maggie McGregor, Sephy's nanny fall in love - each is incomplete without the o...more

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Dec 23, 2011 Megan Baxter rated it 4 of 5 stars

It took me so long to get into this book, because the central premise is gimmicky. Or at least, there wasn't enough to it. Really, the continents never separated, we still live on Pangaea, but the only change is that the racial hierarchy is inverted?

And I couldn't understand why. I still can't, entirely. I try to think of whether it actually accomplishes anything to have the oppressed underclass be white, and the powerful and oppressive group be black. I don't think it really does.

Well, I came u...more It took me so long to get into this book, because the central premise is gimmicky. Or at least, there wasn't enough to it. Really, the continents never separated, we still live on Pangaea, but the only change is that the racial hierarchy is inverted?

And I couldn't understand why. I still can't, entirely. I try to think of whether it actually accomplishes anything to have the oppressed underclass be white, and the powerful and oppressive group be black. I don't think it really does.

Well, I came up with one hypothesis - what it does do is make it possible to tell this really fairly stark tale, and use horrible racial epithets all the time, without using the ones that exist in our world, and have too much baggage to be used so often in a Young Adult novel. But does that rob those words of their power? The n-word is powerful and awful and degrading because of the history behind it, and so in an imaginary world, "blanker" may have the same history, but no one reading it can give it the same weight. It makes a book that might for that audience that might be unpublishable, acceptable. But does that rob the book of some of its weight?

And the reason this frustrates me so much is that the book is really very good, otherwise. It's the Romeo and Juliet story of Callum, a white son of a maid and...(I can't remember what his father does) and Sephy, the black daughter of a prominent politician. At first, it's the story of the integration of schools, and plays out very similarly to actual events in the United States, but with the races reversed. As the book goes on, Callum and Sephy try to maintain the friendship they had as children, but it becomes more complicated and difficult as Callum's father, older brother and eventually, Callum himself, join an organization that seems to be a cross between the Black Panthers and the IRA.

Violence, obviously, ensues, and Blackman never backs away from the starkness of her world. I started off skeptical, and ended up being engrossed.

It's just that gimmick. It kept feeling like a gimmick. But don't let that scare you away from this book. (Well, it's part of the BBC Big Read, so it can't have scared too many people away.) (less)

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Jul 31, 2011 Ira rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourite-books-of-all-time

Two young people are forced to make a stand in this thought-provoking look at racism and prejudice in an alternate society.

Sephy is a Cross -- a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a Nought -- a “colourless” member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood, but that’s as far as it can go. In their world, Noughts and Crosses simply don’t mix. Against a background of prejudice and distrust, intensely highlighted by violen...more

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Apr 11, 2011 Fatima rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Every sensible person on planet Earth

Recommended to Fatima by: Shereen Mahmood

Shelves: should-re-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. SHIT! What can I say? What the hell can I possibly say that could ever be good enough for this miraculous book! I'm at a loss of words and I have no clue where to start. First things first, right?

I had a feeling I'd love this book as soon as I started it. And I was right, it turned out to be solely and doubtlessly THE best book I've ever read so far. When I first picked it up and started reading, I thought it was very eye opening.. to people who were oblivious and ignorant. It's so imaginatively...more SHIT! What can I say? What the hell can I possibly say that could ever be good enough for this miraculous book! I'm at a loss of words and I have no clue where to start. First things first, right?

I had a feeling I'd love this book as soon as I started it. And I was right, it turned out to be solely and doubtlessly THE best book I've ever read so far. When I first picked it up and started reading, I thought it was very eye opening.. to people who were oblivious and ignorant. It's so imaginatively written and ironic in some ways. The alternate universe setting was spectacular, I've always sort of wondered.. Always thought about it in the back of my head, in the recesses of my mind, but now I got to experience it through these amazing, realistic, relate-able characters. It makes you think about things you've never really thought twice about, makes you wonder, and makes you grateful for all the little things. It shows you how cruel the world can be sometimes -- how WE make it that way. How we were raised to believe certain things, it's extremely sad and unfortunate. Heartbreaking, really.

Everything gets a thousand times more intense when they're older. A thousand times more exciting. It was shocking. I was a little suspicious of Callum's intentions when he asked her to meet him, but I thought it impossible, I prayed that I was wrong. It was awful and amazing at the same time from there on. Dreadful, and heartbreaking. I've never read about or heard about characters quite like these two. It's not that they're special or impressively unique in any way.. Quite the opposite actually, they were real, they were .. Solid, present.. I don't know how to describe it.

The ending was fucking horrible. I felt a part of me die, that sounds quite melodramatic but honestly, I don't think there's another way to describe the sickening feeling the end of the book leaves you with. You'd think that would make me hate it, the whole book and not only the ending, but it actually makes me love it all the more. It just proves the reality of it. The fact that real and true and solid stories don't usually have happy endings. It's tragic, but beautiful.

Romeo and Juliet who?

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Apr 28, 2011 Kayleigh {K-Books} rated it 3 of 5 stars

The story follows Sephy a cross and Callum a nought, two children who live in a racist hierarchical society where nought and crosses should not mix. Crosses, are the higher race of the two and when Sephy's school starts to let in Noughts she is overjoyed as she gets to spend more time with her best friend Callum, what she does not realise is the prejudice he will fell at being one of few at the school. As they grow up Sephy and Callum's friendship starts to blossom into much more but they cannot...more The story follows Sephy a cross and Callum a nought, two children who live in a racist hierarchical society where nought and crosses should not mix. Crosses, are the higher race of the two and when Sephy's school starts to let in Noughts she is overjoyed as she gets to spend more time with her best friend Callum, what she does not realise is the prejudice he will fell at being one of few at the school. As they grow up Sephy and Callum's friendship starts to blossom into much more but they cannot be allowed to be together because of the society in which they live. Soon life tears them apart but little so they know is that fate has so much more in store for them.

I felt to much while i was reading this book and found it a really amazing book that i got sucked into the story. I think Malorie Blackman is amazing for writing a story that centres around racism as it is such a taboo subject and wrote this expertly. It was such a touching tale and i was in tears so many times throughout the book.

********SPOILERS***********

I loved Sephy and Callum's story and all i wanted them was to be together and when they finally managed to be together i was overjoyed and thought this is amazing, its a love conquers all story. I could not have been more wrong. I was physically shocked at the ending of this book and above all absolutely heartbroken. I don't want to spoil it too much as to say why i was heartbroken but i think this is the book that has made me cry the most and i still get so emotional thinking about it. I was truly heartbroken and ended up sobbing as if this event had happened to someone i personally knew.
I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 because i came away from the book so utterly heartbroken and slightly depressed because of the ending, i am very much a happy ending person and this book so utterly broke my heart, it physically hurt.

It's a beautiful story and i absolutely loved every moment and found i couldn't get into any book after reading it because i just kept thinking about it over again. It's an amazing novel and the story will stay with you long after finishing the book(less)

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Oct 17, 2011 Can't-Decide-On-A-Name;) rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: teenagers/young adults

Recommended to Can't-Decide-On-A-Name;) by: Moya Bowman (couison)

Shelves: dark-romance, favorites, all-time-favourites, books-so-amazing-i-re-read

Sephy and Callum have grown up the bestest friends. But Sephy is a cross, and the daughter of a famous politition Kamal Hadley. When they were younger, Sephy's mother Jasmine, hired Maggie McGregor who is Callum's mother. However she was fired when she couldn't prvide an aliby for Jasmine when Kamal confronts her about an affair. This book is about the struggles as Sephy and Callum try to keep their friendship strong and pure despite all their obstacles and differences.

I absolutely love Sephy A...more

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Mar 26, 2011 Dana added it · review of another edition

I LOVE it! And I'm not the type to read tragic stories!! This story is AMAZING. It's like nothing ever goes right...It's like when you watch a movie and you go like "No No, ruuun come onn!!!" And then the EXACT opposite happens? Yeah this is how this story is..so you keep on going like Oh No! Poor them! And you start feeling sorry for the characters. Malorie Blackman brings the character to life. As if they are right in front of you, or as if you are the characters themselves. You feel their pai...more

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Feb 11, 2012 Katryn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Katryn by: Karine

Shelves: favorites

Wow! Purement Wow! Un livre exceptionnel, merveilleux! Avant même de le lire, j'en connaissais pratiquement tous les punchs (grâce à mon amie... :P )mais le livre m'a tout de même passionné. C'est le genre de livre dont la lecture, une fois commencé, ne peut être arrêtée. J'ai A-DO-RÉ!

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Apr 23, 2012 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars

Malorie Blackman ,Naughts and crosses is a fantastic book to read for realistic/morbid people like me. It shows how life was for mixed people.It takles all the problems .There are three more books on to this ;Knifes edge,Checkmate and Double cross. I can addmit that this book is a brilliant book to start the edition. In the book (spoiler) there are two people who has a mixed race ,as the economy has grown more racist. Callum and sephy (there names) are up against the pressure and times are tough...more

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Apr 06, 2008 kim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: female-author

I suppose I liked this book ok, but a lot of the teen angst really bothered me. I know that if I'm going to be annoyed by teen angst I should probably just stay out of the young adult section of the library, but I usually don't find it as irritating in books as I do in real life. In this book, though, the teens seemed absurdly stupid.
For example, there was a time a maid from the household of the girlteen he loved delivered a letter to the boyteen and he assumed that the letter was from the maid...more

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Aug 22, 2007 Tuckleton rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: NO BODY EVER

Shelves: book-club-book

I wish there was a negative star. There are so many good books about civil rights and race relations, I don't know what the author was doing trying to rip everyone else off for. I thought the writing and the plots were poorly written and superifical. I am not sure how I forced my self to keep reading this pathetic book.

Read the invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Read a Prayer before Dieing by Gaines

Read a comic book before you waste you time on this book.

The only thing I can say about it being publis...more

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Feb 23, 2008 Rose rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-fiction

Brilliant! Another place - where two distinct groups of people must live together - but the class/race/social division is clearly set - black is good, white is bad - crosses are worthy, noughts are worthless. Malorie Blackman presents us with a society where people with white skin have just been freed from slavery, but continue to live under the rule of people with black skin. Fast-paced, enthralling piece of fiction told from two different perspectives. A love story between a cross and a nought...more

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Sep 22, 2009 SBY Youth Services Rencsko rated it 5 of 5 stars

In this romantic thriller an alternate England is created where the world is divided between Naughts and Crosses, or the under privileged and privileged. Of course the two main characters, first Callum an optimistic Naught who believes in creating a better future for his family and Sephy an oblivious Cross that believes this social divide means little to nothing become friends.

Thrown together by circumstance the two grow in deep admiration and eventually love which is not only forbidden but also...more

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May 07, 2013 Rebecca Oblein rated it 5 of 5 stars

“Noughts and Crosses” is an extremely thought provoking book looking at racism in an alternative way. Dark skinned people (crosses) are within the upper ruling class whilst light skinned people (noughts) are a class under the dark skinned. Light skinned people were once slaves to the crosses. The two main characters Sephy and Callum (a cross and nought) have been friends since they were children but as they grow they begin a romance which leads to endangerment of themselves and endangerment of t...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Kayleigh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Young adults, 14+, lovers of dystopias

Shelves: children-s-books, reviewed

A friend recommended this book to me back when I was at university. The noughts are the white-skinned underclass, only 50 years out of slavery to the Crosses, the dark-skinned people that have the majority of the prospects and jobs. Sephy is the daughter of the Prime Minister, whereas Callum is a nought whose mother once worked for Sephy’s. The book alternates between the first-person perspectives of both characters, and together they tell their story, starting from when Sephy’s 13 and ending wh...more A friend recommended this book to me back when I was at university. The noughts are the white-skinned underclass, only 50 years out of slavery to the Crosses, the dark-skinned people that have the majority of the prospects and jobs. Sephy is the daughter of the Prime Minister, whereas Callum is a nought whose mother once worked for Sephy’s. The book alternates between the first-person perspectives of both characters, and together they tell their story, starting from when Sephy’s 13 and ending when she’s 18.

I realised today that there are two types of dystopia. The first is like The Hunger Games . It’s an interesting idea, but still removed enough from our everyday lives that the message it sends is fairly subtle. Noughts and Crosses is the second type: the dystopia is near enough to life today to make one feel distinctly uncomfortable. And that’s what it did; the politics of Noughts and Crosses slapped me in the face. There are still enough issues with race and equality today for this book to be extremely relevant, which I can imagine is why Malorie Blackman wrote it.

The character development was brilliantly done, and I was able to empathise with the perspectives of both main characters. Their flaws were exposed as well as their strengths, so they were really believable. Reading it as an adult, I think I figured out pretty early on that the story was only going to go downhill for Sephy and Callum, despite what they might dream and I might hope. In that respect, I did find myself a little depressed in that all I could do is see how badly things went wrong – there was only a tiny glimmer of hope, which I’m not used to. I wonder how I’d have interpreted this story as a teenager?

Despite being saddened by the book, I still really enjoyed it. The message is clear but didn’t stop to preach – everything was put in context. The plot was fast and Callum and Sephy’s relationship was handled deftly, according to their situation. It was a gritty book I’d thoroughly recommend.(less)

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Apr 02, 2013 Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Voilà un petit moment que ce livre traînait dans ma PAL et il aura fallu que BO-o-M me le propose dans le cadre du challenge "Livra'deux pour PAL'addict" pour que je me décide enfin à l'en sortir.

Et c'est sans regret : j'ai dévoré ce livre du début à la fin.

J'ai été touchée par l'histoire de Sephy et de Callum, j'avoue avoir versé quelques larmes à la lecture d'un passage ou deux. Je les ai trouvés attachants et très "réels".

J'ai particulièrement aimé que l'histoire soit narrée à deux voix. On...more

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Mar 27, 2013 Ciara *I love Harry Potter!* rated it 4 of 5 stars

Callum McGregor and Persephone (Sephy) Hadley were the best of friends. There were no boundaries to their friendship... yet.

It all started with an innocemt kiss in Sephy's garden. From the on, Callum and Sephy are desperate to be together (view spoiler) and hopelessly endeavour to run away together and stop discrimination between the Noughts and Crosses.

All in all, 'Noughts and Crosses' is a heartbreaking, thought-provoking love story about two people who are tryin...more

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