book review noughts and crosses

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Review: Noughts and Crosses – Malorie Blackman

It was while I was perusing the shelves of my local Waterstones in search of the second Harry Potter book that I happened across Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman, and immediately recognised it as one of the titles from the BBC’s Big Read. I later found it at a charity shop on Northcote Road and bought it with the hope of ticking it off my list by the end of the year. Having finished The Secret Keeper, I soon began Noughts & Crosses, but due to a rather busy few weeks it took me longer than I had anticipated to finish it. Read on for my Noughts and Crosses book review…

Not dissimilar to Romeo and Juliet, Noughts & Crosses’ plot explores themes of racism, prejudice and politics and is narrated by the two main characters Sephy, a Cross, and Callum, a Nought. Having been friends since childhood, as they both grow older it soon becomes clear that living in a segregated society, in which dark-skinned Sephy is of the ruling class, compared to colourless Callum who belongs to the underclass, will not only effect their friendship but also lead to a heartbreaking climax for them both. But while the pair are both battling the racial and class politics that are part and parcel of the society on which they live, they too are fighting battles within themselves. Callum wants to make something of himself. He believes he is capable of more than what is expected of both him and the Crosses as a whole. He’s angered and insulted by the Cross government’s attempt at integration. He is desperate for equality but struggles to achieve what feels so very far out of reach. He too is angry at himself for loving Sephy – a member of the people who oppress him and the daughter of a man who is instrumental in the mistreatment of his kind. To love Sephy means to to love the source of all his pain, hatred, anger, and yet, despite her privileged position in society, Sephy is filled with shame at being a cross.

Turning racial prejudice on its head with a thought-provoking narrative for both teenagers and adults alike, Noughts and Crosses ending is powerful and poignant, and challenges the preconceived ideas that we have of society.

Buy Noughts and Crosses from Waterstones ,  Amazon , Amazon AU or download it on Audible .

Noughts and Crosses Book Summary

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 violent terrorist activity, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum — a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger. Can they possibly find a way to be together?

Want to read a more in-depth Noughts & Crosses summary? Here you can find out more about the Noughts and Crosses characters , the  Noughts and Crosses plot summary , and a summary of Noughts and Crosses themes .

This is a great Noughts and Crosses review from The Guardian.

About Malorie Blackman

Malorie Blackman has written over fifty books and is acknowledged as one of today’s most imaginative and convincing writers for young readers. She has been awarded numerous prizes for her work, including the Red House Children’s Book Award and the Fantastic Fiction Award. Malorie has also been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. In 2005 she was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her contribution to children’s books, and in 2008 she received an OBE for her services to children’s literature. She has been described by The Times as ‘a national treasure’.

Malorie was the Children’s Laureate between 2013–15.

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3 comments on “Review: Noughts and Crosses – Malorie Blackman”

I read this such a long time ago and really enjoyed it. I remember it being such a page-turner!

Sarah xo Oomph London

It really is a brilliant book! xo

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Book Review: Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

Genre : YA, Dystopian Fiction

Publishing Info: Penguin Books (2017) – originally by Doubleday (2001)

Back Cover Summary:

“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. For all the things we’re never going to have”

Sephy Hadley and Callum McGregor have been friends since childhood, and they both know that’s as far as it can go. Theirs is a world full of racism, fear and mounting violence – where Noughts and Crosses are fated to be enemies.

Then, against all the odds, these star-crossed lovers choose each other. But this is a love story that will lead them both into terrible danger…

This review focuses on a re-reading of Malorie Blackman’s brilliant Noughts and Crosses , a book that I haven’t read since school. With a fresh look, I am able to see the fundamental messages of this book stronger and the quality of the narrative and writing style really helps to bring out those messages.

I first read this book in my English lessons at secondary school. Though the reader group the author was aiming for was in my age group, several of the underlying messages and themes weren’t totally grasped by me. That is why I chose to read Noughts and Crosses again, now I am an adult who understands being persecuted, alienated and made to feel like a second-class citizen for something about me that I can’t change. Malorie Blackman, the author of this book, chose to write this book as a head on response to racism and events in her past life, so the issues she tackles doesn’t suffer from being written from the point of view of someone who can’t truly understand the messages in their own book. Therefore, both protagonists, the nought Callum and the Cross Sephy (notice how only the word Cross is capitalized) are written as relatable, even if they aren’t perfect characters in their actions and thoughts. You can really see how the author’s personal experiences have shaped the characterisation and the dynamics between the two races, how no amount of big effort will force change, only antagonize those in power.

The book is split into several sections, jumping the reader forward anywhere from a few weeks to years. The second part of the book, following Sephy and Callum as the latter starts his first days at a predominately Cross school, is one of the strongest parts of the novel. Hatred and intolerance are taught rather than innate, as a child’s mind is accepting but at its most vulnerable to corruption. The treatment of Callum by teachers and pupils alike is a child’s biggest fear, to be pointed out and picked on for something about themselves that they can’t change. This fear can be felt by young adults of any colour, creed, religion or sexuality, which is why any reader can empathise and fear Callum’s situation in their own life. As an adult who has faced some kind of discrimination growing up for something I haven’t been aware of, I can now see the characters in a new light. These early sections also really help to crank up the tension when the politics and terrorist groups enter the fray.

The book constantly switches between Sephy and Callum’s point of view and I really like the way that they do this. There are sentences aplenty about how they feel about the situations they find themselves in and the events in the wider world, as is expected in order to provide the alternative viewpoints needed to illuminate the author’s experiences and how it relates to the message of the book. However, the more interesting element is how the author hides certain pieces of information from the characters until it is too late, like a letter delivered to one of them or crucial news about the other. Then, when the character is given that information or made to make a crucial choice, the readers don’t get to know what happens until they flick to the next section of the book, which could be weeks or years after the last. I would definitely describe this book as a page turner, as you care about the wellbeing of both of the protagonists; this is another positive from the early sections when you see them in a more innocent light.

This book is a pretty important one when discussing the representation of race in literature, especially within the Young Adult sub-genre. However, this book did take me longer than many recently, which I’m not sure is down to the fact that I have felt burned out recently or because I have read this book before. Even though I did pick up on a lot of messages now that I am older, it lacked the excitement that the first read had, possibly because I know exactly what was going to happen. Some books you can read over and over again and still get that sense of magic that you had when you first did it as a child – some of the Harry Potter series for example, and my one criticism of the book would be that I didn’t completely feel that this time around. I will definitely try to read the sequel of this book, Knife Edge , because I want to see where Callum and Sephy’s story goes next.

No matter whether you enjoyed reading this book or it made you feel very uncomfortable, you can’t deny that Noughts and Crosses is a very important book when discussing the history of racism in contemporary society and how it feels to be someone who is constantly persecuted for something that they cannot change about themselves.

Star Rating: 4.5/5

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Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

The 471st greatest book of all time

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If you're interested in seeing the ranking details on this book go here

This book is on the following lists:

• 14th on 100 Best Books to Read by Women Authors (Good Housekeeping)
• 40th on 100 Greatest Childrens Books of All Time (BBC)
• 61st on The Big Read (BBC)
• 88th on The 100 best books of the 21st century (The Guardian)
• 796th on Our Users' Favorite Books of All Time (The Greatest Books Users)
• The Books You've Always Meant to Read (Waterstones)
• 100 Novels That Shaped Our World (BBC)
• 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (Amazon.com (UK))

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YA Review: Noughts and Crosses

Title: Noughts and Crosses Author: Malorie Blackman Edition: Paperback Rating: 5/5

Wow. I’m all for hard-hitting, challenging stories, but this takes the prize for leaving me breathless and traumatised – and it is brilliantly done. In her introduction, the author describes her ‘desire to tackle the subject of racism head on’ by putting her characters through humiliating situations that she had experienced herself as a black teenager. Personal experience and anger at ‘the artificial divides we always seem to put between ourselves and others’ gives this book a raw, realistic feel, and the clever flipping of the black/white power balance allows racist ideas to be challenged, free from readers’ preexisting assumptions.

The narrative is split between two main characters, with alternating Point of View chapters. Thirteen-year-old Sephy is a Cross – a member of the dark-skinned ruling class – and her fifteen-year-old best friend Callum is a Nought – a member of the pale-skinned underclass. Noughts were once kept as slaves by Crosses, and society is still stacked against its pale-skinned members. Schooling is segregated, and very few Noughts achieve a high level of education, or well-paid jobs. The growing relationship between Sephy and Callum provokes resentment from their families, and from the people around them. The plot makes some shocking twists, while staying true to the characters and the setting, and by the end I was angry, upset, and thoroughly invested in the outcome of the story. It took me a while to fully sympathise with both main characters, but when the plot grabbed me, I couldn’t put the book down.

It is very hard to say anything else without giving away spoilers – and trust me, this is a story you don’t want to spoil. It’s a book that makes the reader question their own invisible prejudices, while following the characters through some tough decisions, and eventually shouting at the words on the page. It is an important story, accessibly told, that will stay with me long after the book goes back on the shelf. Very highly recommended.

Have you read Noughts and Crosses ? What did you think? Click through to the full blog to access the comments section, and share your thoughts! No spoilers, though – you can post those on GoodReads !

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Noughts + Crosses provides a 101 on microaggressions and white privilege

By Olive Pometsey

Haven’t you heard? Racism denial is the nation’s hottest new trend. Be it Z-listers insisting that white privilege doesn’t exist on Question Time or white MPs arguing that it’s “offensive” to call out racist behaviour, invalidating the experiences of people of colour is the new norm. It’s for this reason that the first episode of Noughts + Crosses , the adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s much-loved novel, struck such a chord with many viewers when it aired last night. It laid the nuances of everyday racism bare for all to see, only this time the roles were reversed.

For some context, Noughts + Crosses imagines a dystopian world in which Africa colonised the UK and white people are oppressed. Black people (crosses) live like kings; white people (noughts) live in fear of being unjustly arrested by the police. No one utters the N-word, but “blanker” is thrown around left, right and centre as a derogatory name for white people. It starkly reveals how utterly pointless racism is, but its real strength lies in its subtlety. 

Everyone knows that it’s wrong to use racial slurs; it’s the microaggressions and small privileges of the oppressor – the kind that the anti-woke refuse to acknowledge – that are often more difficult to explain. By putting the shoes on the other feet, Noughts + Crosses elegantly gives people from all backgrounds the opportunity to empathise with those who are too often accused of playing the race card, forging a much-needed bridge of understanding between the polarised fractions of our society. 

There was a moment early in the first episode, for instance, when the home secretary’s white maid, Meggie, comments to his wife, Jasmine, that it’s nice weather outside. Jasmine agrees, in a relatively polite manner, before snidely closing the conversation with “you might even get some colour”. While watching, I was instantly reminded of all of the times my white classmates would return from their summer holidays with tans, grab my arm, place it next to their own and exclaim, “Look, I’m almost as dark as you!” On the other end of the spectrum, I thought of my cousins in Ghana, who, when I last visited, asked me how they could get lighter skin like myself and my white mother. 

It didn’t stop there. From the black equivalent of pompous, rah Etonians purposefully pronouncing names like Callum wrong (“Kay-lum”) to comments like, “I know a few noughts. They’re always so cheerful, but you do get a few uppity ones,” the small, daily degradations that people of colour often face were embedded in the script, succinctly showcasing how things that don’t seem like a big deal to the oppressor accumulate and wear down the oppressed. Just as many children were given Malorie Blackman’s original book to read at school, its TV adaptation should be considered mandatory viewing for all. They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, but in BBC’s Noughts + Crosses , the most poignant moments are priceless. 

One of the images from the show that will stay with me for a long time is that of a brown plaster wrapped around a white finger, given to Meggie’s son, Callum, after he cuts himself while working at a waiter at a party. Typically, plasters are only available in “nude” or clear, a symptom of a world that serves white people as a priority, so to see one in a deep shade of brown used as the norm, instead of a novelty that can be bought for a marked-up price on Ebay, was incredibly powerful. It was black privilege imagined simply by a switch in skin tones. 

By Miles Ellingham

By Adam Cheung

By Frazier Tharpe

At its core, Noughts + Crosses is a Romeo And Juliet -style love story, the star-crossed lovers being Callum and the home secretary’s daughter, Sephy. When we meet Sephy, she’s living in blissful ignorance of the abuse white people face, until Callum explains to her how his friend was beaten into a coma by police officers. She decides to join the protest, but when things turn ugly and Callum gets attacked by other white people, a slip of the tongue sees Sephy instinctively call his attackers “blankers”. Callum is naturally offended. An apology is required – a good one, at that – and her words when she turns up at his house to beg for forgiveness are ones we could all do to take on board.

“I liked to pretend that I wasn’t like that,” she explains, “that I was better than the other crosses, but I’m not.” We all like to think that we’re not racist – even those who proudly air their racist views insist that they’re not – but it’s impossible to live life without picking up a few prejudices along the way, and, usually, these secret prejudices slip out as microaggressions. By turning the tables, Noughts + Crosse s makes this searingly obvious, proving that even the most well-intentioned among us can harbour racist views. For a show that depicts a society so far removed from the real world, Noughts + Crosses provides a serious reality check for all of the racism deniers who have crawled out of the woodwork recently. It’s built a bridge of understanding for us. Now all we need to do is get across it. 

Everything you need to know about Noughts + Crosses

White privilege: a primer

Britain, racism and the ‘P-word’: a GQ special report

By Daisy Jones

By Jack King

By Mike Christensen

By Scarlett Baker

By Xuanlin Tham

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Book Review – Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

Noughts and Crosses is a dystopian YA novel set in a world where the balance of power has switched. Instead of living in a world where white people once claimed dominance over black people, society is being controlled by black people. Referred to as Crosses, black people hold all of the seats of power and have clear superiority over white people, or Noughts. Fraternisation between Noughts and Crosses is not encouraged and everybody is expected to keep to themselves. So, it was always going to be difficult when teenagers Sephy, a Cross, and Callum, a Nought, started to fall in love. But, unfortunately, that’s only the start of their troubles. The pair quickly come to see just how many people would be dead against their relationship.

Sephy’s father is a powerful politician and is pushing anti-nought rhetoric. He is pushing the agenda to help Crosses and doing everything possible to make Noughts seem dangerous and violent. Although, the government are under pressure from a rebel group the Liberation Militia. So, they’ve had to offer something to show they are moving to a more equal society. Callum and a small group of Noughts have just been accepted into Sephy’s elite Cross school. The students face great scrutiny from their fellow teenagers and the staff. Although, Sephy is initially ecstatic at the idea of having her best friend in her class. Though Sephy learns that their friendship is a lot more problematic than she ever realised. With tensions rising, there are violent reactions from the LM. Reactions that find Callum, Sephy, and their families in a difficult position. Can the pair find a way to be together when they are being pulled in opposite directions?

Noughts and Crosses is a powerful novel that really does a great job of reversing race roles. It’s an incredibly effective story that highlights the issue of systemic racism without going too far into overly dystopian territory. Everything you read here seems familiar in some way. It takes inspiration from real-world and recent history. With links to the Civil Rights Movement in America and class differences in the UK. There are even hints to the IRA and modern terrorist attacks. It is obviously an exaggerated version of society but it remains understandable and relatable. The issue of Civil Rights and racial superiority are plain to see. It is a great book for young people to read to start conversations about race and equality. It should definitely be a must-read for young readers and, if it isn’t, it should be on every syllabus. It’s an easy read and showcases some important historical and social commentary.

My only real issue with  Noughts and Crosses is a minor one. An awful lot is going on here. There are so many subplots to contend with that many of them don’t really go anywhere. It also means that several interesting points just get glossed over or rushed to make way for something less interesting. I know it’s a series and there probably several plot strands that will be picked up later but it just feels as though Malorie Blackman was trying to do too much at once. I kind of wish the opening novel had been a bit slower and given more time over to build the world and develop the characters. There are so many one-dimensional characters who I wish had been given more ambiguity. Like Jude and Kamal who are nothing but fairy tale villains. Adding a bit more development would have opened up a dialogue about different motivations and showed that racism isn’t a simple as being a racist or being anti-racist.

But, really, Malorie Blackman does a fantastic job of making this role reversal narrative work. The love story is a great way to bring young readers is because it is all too familiar. It’s Romeo and Juliet with an emphasis on race. There will be some narrow-minded people who see the novel as racist but there is nothing here that doesn’t have some basis in fact. It might be an uncomfortable read but only because it forces you to confront a racial bias that you might not have realised you were even benefiting from. Sephy is a well-meaning character and she’s someone readers will warm to. Something that makes it easier to realise that most of us are Sephy. Being bling to skin colour is being blind to the problems faced by people with a different skin colour to your own. Watching her slowly realise that is a great way to highlight the problem.

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3 thoughts on “ book review – noughts and crosses by malorie blackman ”.

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Toi much toi quickly, not much subtlety. Good intentions sont make good writng.

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Book Review: Noughts & Crosses (Noughts and Crosses #1)

Rating: 4 stars

Sephy and Callum have been friends since early childhood. And that’s as far as it can go. Because theirs is a world full of prejudice, racism, distrust and mounting terrorist violence.

Despite all this, a romance builds between the two friends.

But this is a love that could lead them both into terrible danger…

The summary on the back of Noughts & Crosses doesn’t do it any justice. From the beginning, this book had me hooked, wanting to know how this story would go. It was an emotional rollercoaster that while in the moment didn’t produce any tears from me, it made me have an array of emotions when I was finished.

It tells the tragic story of Sephy and Callum, best friends since childhood who over the years of their lives fall in love with each other. But they can’t be together because of racism and terrorist violence which threatens to tear their lives apart.

I received this book through Blind Date With a Book Club , a website where for the next six months, you get a mystery book based on the genres you’ve chosen. This is the first book of the six I received, and I couldn’t be more pleased with it.

What I love about this book is that it emotionally hooked me into the story. As a reader, this story really pulled me in, made me root for Sephy and Callum to be together despite the many obstacles that stood in their way. I wanted so badly for their love story to work out even though I knew the chances were slim because of how dark this story became.

I also appreciate the honesty in which this story portrays heavy topics such as racism. This book gets seriously dark in the way it shows you as the reader how much racism can affect the world around you. How hatred for someone because of the color of their skin can really cause harm to the people that hatred is turned towards. This book does a spectacular job of showing you as the reader how this hatred can really hurt people, especially those you love. I’m not scared to admit that this dystopia world sometimes frightened me because it felt so real and it wasn’t that long ago that the world we live in acted the way the Crosses do towards the Noughts.

But experiencing that fear helped me because as someone with privilege, I know I’ll never understand what the Noughts went through. Though in this dystopia world, the author turns racism on its head, since Noughts in the story are white people experiencing racism from black people. I thought that was an interesting dynamic because it made me think and I feel like it helped me understand racism better. Especially since Malorie Blackman used a lot of experiences to show how terrible racism can truly be. Before reading this book, I felt like I understood racism, but I truly believe this book really showed me how dark it can get, and that people tend to take it way too far.

I felt like this book really spoke to me too. My partner and I aren’t the typical relationship you expect to see so I feel like I can relate to this story because of it. It made me think about our relationship and made me realize how much I truly appreciate my partner. Our relationship isn’t always easy, but I truly feel like we’re meant to be together despite the obstacles we’ve faced. So, in many ways, I feel like I can relate to Sephy and Callum’s relationship because they both went through some hurdles to be together.

My biggest criticism with Noughts & Crosses is that while I was rooting for Sephy and Callum to be together, there were moments where I didn’t understand why they still cared for each other. Throughout the book, their relationship is put through the ringer. Yet, both Sephy and Callum still end up caring about each other despite the many situations their put in during their romance. Situations that would typically result in one or both people involved wanting to separate from each other. The best example that comes to mind happens close to the end of the story and is the result of the way their romance ends. I won’t go too much into it because I don’t want to spoil this book for anyone, but I really don’t understand why these two characters chose that moment to do that. It was the worst timing on their part and I knew as soon as it happened it would cause the end of their relationship. It also just didn’t make sense to me because the situation they both were in wasn’t an ideal moment for them to give into impulses.

Like I said, I can relate to their relationship, so I do overall understand why they wanted to be together. But there were moments in the story where for their own safety, they shouldn’t have been. Or where they both made rash decisions that they shouldn’t have, which impacted not only them but those closest to them.

Another criticism I had while reading was that while I loved that this story was told from two points of view (Sephy and Callum), there were times I didn’t overall like the writing from their perspectives. I know both these characters are young, so I get that what they said or did sounded childish, but there were times for me when it was a bit too much. I especially noticed this a lot when the story was being told from Sephy’s perspective. Maybe part of that in the story is that Blackman wanted to showcase with Sephy her privilege through the way she acted during certain moments in the story. Either way, it was something I wasn’t too fond of despite liking that this story is told from two different perspectives.

But overall, Noughts & Crosses was a really gripping, emotional read for me to complete and I enjoyed every minute of it. I’m also happy that this was the first book I was given with Blind Date With a Book Club and can’t wait to see what book I’ll receive from them next.

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Raney simmon.

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4 thoughts on “ Book Review: Noughts & Crosses (Noughts and Crosses #1) ”

May 31, 2019 at 9:35 am

I’ve always wanted to read this book but have never gotten round to it, even though it’s in most libraries near me. So thanks for this review – it has encouraged me to get to it sooner! 🙂

Simi ~ simizat.wordpress.com

June 4, 2019 at 6:41 pm

Well, I hope you do take the chance to read it. When you do, please let me know how it goes. 🙂

Like Liked by 1 person

June 27, 2019 at 6:02 am

Will do! I’m sure I’ll love it 🙂

June 11, 2019 at 7:24 am

Great review, Raney. Glad to hear that aspects of the story were relatable. It sounds like a great read.

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Noughts and Crosses

The Crosses – Dark skinned, wealthy, privileged, politicians, police, judges and Sephy. Sephy is the daughter of a rising-through-the-ranks politician, father. Sephy and Callum have been friends from when they were small and Callum’s mum worked for Sephy’s family.

But that was then. Now that Sephy and Callum are older, they are told again and again that Noughts and Crosses don’t mix. Especially now that her father is more and more in the public eye and the media will grab anything to shame him.

Using secret calling and messaging techniques, Sephy and Callum continue their friendship by meeting in secret in their special place. Both are changing, growing, and wondering about their feelings toward each other. Were they still just friends? The most confusing thoughts are about the rising rifts between the Noughts and the Crosses. The Crosses make it almost unbearable for Callum at his new school. Sephy’s family is beginning to fall apart from her father’s aspirations and her mother’s drinking problems, and her feelings of injustice are growing along with Callum’s.

The Noughts are beginning to rebel in more organised ways, with a growing group of protesters hitting back with whatever it takes to bring equality to their lives. But the justice system is made up of 99.9% Crosses and the Noughts know that they are up against a society that will bite back – and it does in the most vicious ways possible.

First published in 2001, I have always wanted to read this novel. Now that I have, I wish I’d read it years ago. It was incredibly easy to get into, and I was taken by the characters quickly and wholeheartedly. Their rising confusion with their upbringing and caustic environments, all as their feelings for each other grow; captured me and kept me reading for hours – wanting to know more. The tension builds steadily to an event that pushes everything over a precipice, forcing decisions on both sides. Gripping.

The first in a series of five novels about UK society being flipped – to show white skinned people on the bottom, and dark skinned people in power. Brave and brilliant.

Author – Malorie Blackman

Age – 15+

(Prejudice, Racism, Society flipped, Friendship, Family, Loyalty, Love, Hatred, School, Multi Award Winner, Alternate UK)

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Noughts and Crosses

By Malorie Blackman, and and, Dominic Cooke

A story of a black girl called Sephy and a white boy called Callum and their friendship in a world that’s divided by the colour of skin and how their feelings for each other grow as they grow older and grow up.

I wish it was longer, but at the same time it's fine because there's more to the series! Such an important series, one I think everyone should read.

again malorie blackman writes the best books

amazing book about how diffrences shouldnt keep people away from others and that nomatter what happens sombody will have your back as long as you have theirs

yes i would recommend this book because it was very exciting

Unlike any other book I've read. Two narrators, one male, one female so a good read for boys as well as girls.

In the tale of noughts and crosses the roles of our generations history are reversed. When you read this book you will realise just how much the black people suffered as the the whites are treated in the same way so I recommend this book if you really love history

So good and really sad

Extremely Sad book will probably be crying by the end of the book... I was!!

very well written with a sad ending and weird accusations

good morals from that book.

Interesting and very readable.

I think this book is a amazing book to read. Its fills you with so many different emotions... Your crying tears of joy :'D one minute and the next they're of sadness :'(! This book really does teach you a lesson in life, that no one is more important than anyone else. It is a very lovely story but also very upsetting so be warned its not just a sweet fairytale...

because you can see how all about racism started and the names that people gave each other.

Amazing book

this book distinguishes the difference between different races in society and it tells us about how people cope with it in their everyday loves. it was utterly amazing

This book is really detailed and has a great story line...

A fab book for older children, noughts and crosses is a thrilling story about love in an unfair world.

It is very interesting as it is a twist on the past which is black people ruling white people instead of the other way round.

The book I have read is noughts and crosses by Malorie Blackman. I recommend it because it has a really good story line. Also the use of language is used very well in every single chapter. You should definitely read this book.

A lot going on but a very good and imaginative dystopian thriller : D

Dear reader, You should really read this book it is amazing and now my favourite book. It's about a girl and a boy who love each other but as the girl (Sephy Hadley) is a cross and the boy (Callum McGregor) is a nought law and Sephy's parent won't allow them to be together but that doesn't stop them...

It's a really good book for both boys and girls it has romance and action, polictics and justice :)

this thrilling book takes a new twist and now it is the black (noughts) discriminating the whites (crosses).Can Sephy and Callum be together despite racism?

I think you should read this book because it is very educational and its interesting

I wnt to read it

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Noughts and Crosses

Malorie blackman, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Best friends Callum and Sephy are at their secret spot on the beach , where they kiss to see what it’s like. Sephy is almost 14 and is thrilled that 15-year-old Callum will be attending her school this year to integrate it. Callum, though, isn’t sure he and Sephy should act like friends at school—he’s a nought and she’s a Cross , and noughts and Crosses don’t mix. That night, Sephy overhears her father, Mr. Hadley , meeting with a nought man and saying that he’s angry “ blankers ” (a terrible slur for noughts) are attending his daughter’s school.

The first day of school is horrible for Sephy and Callum both. A mob outside protests the nought students, and Sephy gets the mob to disperse by screaming that her classmates are acting like “blankers.” Callum is hurt and offended, so Sephy agrees not to use the slur again.

Over the next few weeks, life gets harder for Sephy and Callum. At home, Callum’s m um and dad fight about how to best fight for racial equality, while his brother Jude and sister Lynette (who’s mentally ill and suffers delusions that she’s a Cross) butt heads. Callum also starts to suspect that Dad and Jude are part of the Liberation Militia , an underground resistance group. Meanwhile, Sephy tries to help the noughts at school by sitting with them at lunch, but the school punishes her for this, and three girls viciously beat her up in retaliation. Sephy’s actions offend Callum and make him feel angry and ashamed, and Callum’s lack of enthusiasm makes Sephy feel bad just for being a Cross. She also becomes uncomfortably aware of how racist her culture is, and she fears that her parents will divorce as their fighting escalates.

Callum gets home one day to find Jude and Lynette exchanging blows. To stop all three children from fighting, Dad tells Jude and Callum why Lynette is ill: three years ago, she and her Cross boyfriend were beaten for being in an interracial relationship. One night, Lynette leaves the dinner table to go on a walk. Hours later, police come to the house and deliver the news that Lynette was hit by a bus and killed. They say it was an accident, but Callum discovers a letter from Lynette under his pillow admitting she committed suicide. He vows to keep this secret. At about the same time, Sephy’s mother attempts to commit suicide but survives.

Sephy is the only Cross to attend Lynette’s funeral, but her presence isn’t well-received; Dad and Jude both tell her to leave. In the weeks after the funeral, Callum realizes that Dad and Jude are becoming more involved with the LM. Mother’s drinking escalates, which frightens Sephy—but her sister Minnie says they shouldn’t do anything.

Six months after Lynette dies, Callum and Sephy decide to meet at the mall—but Jude tells Callum very seriously not to go. Suspecting the worst, Callum races for the mall and drags Sephy out—just before a bomb explodes, killing seven people. Enraged when she realizes that Dad and Jude were involved, Mum slaps Dad so hard she breaks her finger. At the hospital, so she can receive treatment, Mum allows the nurse to scan Callum and Jude’s ID cards, which are linked to their fingerprints. That night, to help herself sleep, Sephy tries wine for the first time.

The next week is tense at the McGregor house, as Mum attempts to kick Dad out. But one night, police come to the house and arrest everyone except Jude, who is out. After a full night of interrogations, Mum and Callum learn that the police have identified Jude as the bomber—but also that the police are charging Dad with the crimes. Mum and Callum hire a nought lawyer, Mr. Stanhope , who insists Dad’s case is a lost cause. But when he visits Dad, Mum and Callum learn that the police told Dad that they had Jude in custody, and that they would release him if Dad confessed to the bombing. Dad is enraged when he learns the police don’t have Jude, but there’s no way to take back his confession.

Sephy watches the case unfold on the news from home, and she knows Dad is innocent. Callum is suspended from school for no reason, but he’s somewhat hopeful about Dad’s prospects when an anonymous benefactor—presumably Sephy—pays for one of the best lawyers in the country, Kelani Adams , to represent Dad. But though Dad pleads not guilty to all the charges, and though Kelani mounts an impressive case, the jury finds Dad guilty of all the charges.

One hot afternoon, Mother makes Sephy put on an expensive dress to go to some undisclosed location. Sephy enters Hewmett Prison extremely confused and doesn’t realize she’s at Dad’s execution until guards bring him out to the scaffold. However, just before Dad is killed, the prison governor stays the execution. When Mum and Callum get to see Dad hours later, Dad says he’s done fighting. Sephy is extremely disturbed by the day’s events—and is then confused when she learns Mother paid the McGregors’ legal fees. She goes to bed and cries herself to sleep.

Sephy wakes in the middle of the night to rocks hitting her window—it’s Callum. He climbs up to her bedroom, enraged by all Crosses’ behavior and half-wanting to take it out on Sephy. Instead, though, he lies down with Sephy, and she falls asleep. Callum considers hurting her but kisses her instead. He sneaks out in the morning. Not long after, Dad dies when he’s electrocuted by the prison fence.

Months later, out of the blue, Jude approaches Callum at a burger joint and invites him to join the LM. Feeling he has no other options, Callum agrees. At the same time, Sephy’s parents have finally agreed that she can go away to boarding school—but Sephy writes Callum a letter asking him to run away with her instead. Callum doesn’t read the letter until it’s too late, so he and Sephy part ways for two and a half years. During this time, Callum works his way up the LM ranks, hurting and killing Crosses and losing his humanity in the process. Sephy quits drinking, finds herself at school, and joins a resistance group. She decides to be a lawyer like Kelani Adams when she grows up.

After finishing school, Sephy unwillingly returns home. She’s shocked to find a letter from Callum, inviting her to meet him on the beach. Sephy goes to the beach—but Callum is there with his LM cell (which temporarily includes Jude) to kidnap Sephy and extract a ransom out of Mr. Hadley. The cell takes Sephy to a remote house, where Jude makes Callum prove his loyalty to the LM by tasking Callum with cutting Sephy’s finger, smearing the blood on a shirt, and filming Sephy reading the demands for her father.

The cell is expecting the General of the LM’s second-in-command to visit them at their remote location, but Callum is immediately suspicious of the man, Andrew Dorn . When Andrew asks to see Sephy, Sephy visibly startles at the sight of him. The next day, Andrew, Jude, and three other members of the cell, Morgan , Leila , and Pete , leave to deliver more demands to Mr. Hadley, leaving Callum to guard Sephy.

Alone in the house together, Sephy and Callum have sex, and Sephy instantly bursts into tears afterwards. Jude and Morgan return before Sephy and Callum are fully dressed and while Sephy is still crying. They conclude that Callum raped Sephy, and they share that someone told the police about them: police arrested Leila, Pete is dead, and Andrew is gone. Jude and Callum fight and while they’re distracted, Sephy runs away into the woods. Callum finds her before Jude or Morgan can, and he points her toward safety. Before she leaves, Sephy shares that Andrew is working with Mr. Hadley—Andrew is the man she saw meeting with Mr. Hadley years ago. Sephy gets home safely, and Callum, Morgan, and Jude split up for their safety.

Five weeks after returning home, Sephy discovers she’s pregnant. Though Minnie initially agrees to keep Sephy’s pregnancy a secret, she ultimately tells Mother and Mr. Hadley. Mr. Hadley insists that Sephy get an abortion, but she refuses. Callum learns about Sephy’s pregnancy on the radio a few months later, and he heads home to see her.

Callum and Sephy meet in the Hadleys’ rose garden, but the police ambush them and arrest Callum. Nobody will believe Sephy or Callum that he didn’t rape her, though Sephy begins speaking publicly about not having been raped. Following Callum’s trial, in which he’s found guilty, Mr. Hadley makes a final attempt to manipulate the couple: he tells them both that if Sephy gets an abortion, he won’t let the authorities hang Callum. They reject his manipulation, and Callum screams that he loves Sephy as he’s hanged. Not long after, Sephy gives birth to a baby girl.

Noughts + Crosses Isn't Entirely Successful as Romance or Racial Commentary

Noughts + Crosses is thought-provoking, but neither its central star-crossed relationship nor its social commentary are completely effective.

Noughts + Crosses , based on the first novel in the popular series by Malorie Blackman, takes place in an alternate world where England, known as Albion, was conquered centuries ago by Africa, known as Aprica. This has led to a present-day society where Blacks and Whites are divided by Jim Crow-like segregation laws, but in this case the Black Apricans are the ruling class, with complete control over the country’s wealth and power, while the White Noughts struggle to get by and are viewed with suspicion and derision by the authorities.

It’s a simple but surprisingly potent device to explore the experience of racism and oppression. Yet, Noughts + Crosses is intended to be a young adult series, and therefore, its major draw is its Romeo and Juliet -style tale of the star-crossed romance between Nought Callum McGregor (Jack Rowan) and Cross Sephy Hadley (Masali Baduza). Their relationship is inevitably impacted by the segregation and racism of Albion, yet it never feels as fully developed as the very different worlds of the Noughts and Crosses and the clashes between them.

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The first episode of the series quickly and effectively establishes the alternate world of Albion where African influence is evident in the clothing, hair styles, music, architecture and decoration, and Black faces appear in ads adorning the sides of buildings. As the show opens, young adult Noughts hang out on the streets, capturing the attention of the police, a common occurrence. However, this time, one of the officers delivers an accidental blow to the head of Callum’s friend Danny (Charlie Jones), putting him in a coma. While the event is horrible, in a summer that started with the murder of George Floyd and ended with the shooting of Jacob Blake at the hands of police, it feels smaller than perhaps it should. Moreover, when the news places the blame for what happened on Danny’s shoulders, the spin is depressingly familiar given certain outlets have attempted something similar after real-life incidents involving the police.

Perhaps as a result, it’s in the show's first couple episodes that the romance between Sephy and Callum holds the most promise. The pair come from incredibly different worlds; while Sephy, the daughter of a powerful politician, is considering where to apply for college, Callum is doing his best to be part of the first group of Noughts allowed into a prestigious military academy, where he hopes to change the system from the inside. Still, when the two were little they were friends due to Callum’s mother Meggie’s (Helen Baxendale) position as the Hadley family’s housekeeper. They reconnect when Callum assists Meggie at a birthday party for Sephy’s mother, Jasmine (Bonnie Henna), and the spark between them is evident immediately. Of course, in a world where interracial relationships are outlawed, the romance seems doomed from the start; nonetheless, the series does a good job of establishing Callum and Sephy's attraction and tentative first steps towards one another.

Yet, for the bulk of the series, the romance takes a backseat to the overarching conflict between the Noughts and the Crosses, especially as that conflict, driven by Jack Dorn (Shaun Dingwall) the leader of the Liberation Militia, drives it into territory reminiscent of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This makes many of Callum's and Sephy's decisions, Sephy’s in particular, feel unearned. At the same time, the show paints Dorn out to be as much of a villain as Sephy’s segregationist father, Kamal (Paterson Joseph), undercutting its own message to some degree.

It’s actually in smaller moments that the show’s illustration of racism is most powerful. When Sephy hurls a racial slur at a group of Noughts surprising even herself or Callum uses a band-aid made to match the Crosses’ skin color, not his, it’s a reminder of just how easily racist beliefs can become ingrained in a culture -- and how difficult they can become for the dominant culture to see. This makes the series thought-provoking and interesting, yet it never quite reaches the level of depth and complexity it’s striving for in both its central relationship and its social commentary.

Throughout the show, Sephy and Callum’s circumstances mostly keep them apart, plus neither character is especially well developed, leading to a romance that ultimately feels half-baked. Likewise, although the racial reversal is initially effective, the series’ instinct to go bigger and more violent makes Callum’s circumstances, while sympathetic, increasingly less relatable.

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Noughts + Crosses packs a lot into its six episodes, yet neither its forbidden love story nor its racial commentary are completely successful. Plus, the YA love story combined with the disturbing violence and social situations makes it hard to know who the show is really intended for. And while strong performances, especially by Baxendale and Joseph, and impressive costume and set design make the series fairly compelling, it can’t top the story of the struggle for racial justice currently unfolding in the real world.

Based on the novel of the same name by Malorie Blackman, Noughts + Crosses stars Jack Rowan, Masali Baduza, Jonathan Ajayi, Helen Baxendale, Paterson Joseph, Josh Dylan, Shaun Dingwall, Jonathan Ajayi, Kike Brimah, Rakie Ayola, Bonnie Mbuli and Ian Hart. The series premieres on Peacock on Friday, Sept. 4.

NEXT: Noughts + Crosses Trailer Flips the World's Racial Power Structure

The Things That Really Matter

Book Review: Noughts and Crosses

‘The higher you climb, the further you have to fall …’

I don’t come to literature for biting social commentary, not really. Sure, I admire the anti-war stance of Catch-22 , but I love that novel because it’s absolutely hilarious. The Hunger Games probably has something interesting to say about class, but I was much more concerned with the character dynamics and the plot. It’s for this reason that I didn’t really enjoy Naomi Alderman’s novel The Power – a book that sees a literal transfer of power from men to women. With that book, if you strip away the concept, there isn’t enough underneath it to make the whole thing worthwhile. Noughts and Crosses occasionally strays into this territory but Malorie Blackman wisely chooses to concentrate on characters and plotting rather than concept – something that is handy as I’m not really sure if this particular concept (society is segregated post slavery but with the white population being the underclass) actually adds much of anything at all…

Callum and Sephy are very different. Callum is slightly older and is often discriminated against because he is a nought (white). His mother has to take a series of difficult and degrading jobs and he is eventually forced out of the almost all black school that he was initially so excited to earn a place at. Sephy is the daughter of a powerful Cross politician and due to her privileged upbringing she is naïve to the true ways of a harsh and unforgiving world. Noughts and Crosses is the story of Callum and Sephy and how their lives intertwine over a number of years.

While I wasn’t fully taken on the concept, the decision to have Callum and Sephy as dual narrators pays off in spades as the reader essentially receives two very different accounts of the same events. This allows Blackman to drive home the differences between the two characters – both in terms of personality and circumstance. The supporting characters are also affecting if a little unoriginal with Callum’s militant brother Jude perhaps being the most compelling.

The other great strength of Noughts and Crosses is the show-stopping ending. It’s rare to find a conclusion so bold and so captivating in the YA genre, but Blackman’s abrupt curtain fall here fits perfectly within the grim world in which the novel takes place.

I enjoyed Noughts and Crosses , perhaps not enough to read the numerous sequels, but enough to recommend it to others. Fans of the YA genre will certainly not be disappointed.

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Noughts + Crosses review – reverse-race love story is vital viewing

Adapted from Malorie Blackman’s hit series of novels, this smart drama highlights structural racism by flipping a familiar tale of star-crossed lovers on its head

I t is hard in this world for the oppressed white man – and I don’t mean Laurence Fox . This six-part adaptation of Malorie Blackman ’s Noughts + Crosses books (BBC One) transports us to a race-flipped 21st-century Albion. There, the lighter-skinned Nought majority have been ruled over by darker-skinned Cross colonisers from “Aprica”, since their conquest of Europe, some 700 years ago.

Our perspective on this alternative world is that of Callum (Peaky Blinders’ Jack Rowan) a Nought, and Sephy (newcomer Masali Baduza), who is not only a Cross, but, as the daughter of the home secretary Kamal Hadley (Paterson Joseph), a particularly privileged one.

Callum and Sephy were childhood playmates in the grand Hadley house, where Callum’s mother (Helen Baxendale) is employed as servant. When Callum is roped in to help serve drinks at a birthday party for Mrs Hadley (Bonnie Mbuli), they meet again and rekindle their affection. This love across racial lines is dangerous, however, and further complicated by the involvement of Callum’s family in a Nought paramilitary group.

If you were at school between 2001 and 2008, you will know much of that already. That is when the young adult book series by Blackman, a former children’s laureate, ruled libraries and book bags. It is hard to overstate the impact of the Noughts + Crosses series on a certain group of now twentysomething readers, but the fact that Stormzy (age 26) calls them his “favourite books of all time”, name-checked Blackman on his latest album and has a cameo in the series, gives some indication.

So the generation who grew up reading Blackman will be watching, but the 9pm time slot suggests the BBC is banking on wider adult appeal. The characters have been aged up by about five years, making Callum and Sephy full participants in Albion society, with all its racism – both insidious and overt. There is a well-known example from the book, in which Callum gets a flesh-coloured plaster that doesn’t match his skin tone, and much more besides. Sephy has an exciting array of higher education opportunities, whereas Callum’s best option is to enrol in the elite Cross military academy, Mercy Point, even though it means being alienated from his community and enduring relentless racist bullying. As a Nought, he is also subject to brutal policing, the routine disrespect of mispronounced names and the highly charged slur “blanker”, which never seems far from any Cross tongue, even Sephy’s.

Much of this rings discordant bells with viewers, which is down to the ingenious simplicity of Blackman’s premise. What distinguishes Noughts + Crosses from a counterfactual history series, such as The Man in the High Castle , or a historical-based fantasy, like Game of Thrones , is that it is barely fictionalised at all. This world is our world – same technology, same geography, same government – only flipped.

In this context, African cultural dominance can feel like a celebration. Aside from all the other things it is doing, this show acts as a still rare showcase for black talent, be it in the form of more roles for black actors or a soundtrack mixing contemporary African music with diverse Black British artists (currently available to listen to in full on BBC Sounds).

Could such a show have been made before Black Panther exploded lazy industry assumptions in 2018? Certainly, some of that film’s Oscar-winning Afrofuturism is evident here, but it’s more than just brilliantly stylish design with political resonance. The Africanised architecture (shot mostly in South Africa), the way black faces feature on all the advertising hoardings and news channels, but especially the way Afrocentric beauty standards are so pervasive that even white characters wear their hair in locs and braids – all this comes together to create an effect that is consistently jolting. Every scene includes a least one detail that wakes up the viewer (and keeps us “woke”) to so much racism that is otherwise absorbed, unnoticed into the texture of daily life.

These Noughts + Crosses characters don’t yet have complexity and nuance to match its world-building. At this stage, it is difficult to imagine audience interest in Callum and Sephy sustaining the show into a proposed subsequent series. Even so, this is vital viewing.

At a time when the absurdity of media “debates” on race reveals this country’s general lack of understanding, a show that so starkly demonstrates structural racism is revolutionary. Because it’s not just about some pink plasters, is it?

• Malorie Blackman
• Peaky Blinders
• Children's laureate
• Children and teenagers

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