When was noughts and crosses written

Love is a classic theme in teen and Young Adult fiction, so here are some top romances to get stuck into. These books are a great way to get secondary school aged children engaged with issues of politics and human rights. Malorie Blackman was appointed as Waterstones Children's Laureate Here's a list of of our favourite Malorie Blackman books she wrote before Our pick of the top books that examine the structural oppression experienced by people of colour, aimed at inspiring and empowering young children to talk about anti-racism.

Can you imagine Pooh without Piglet? Or Frodo without Sam? Here are some children's books that celebrate the power, fun and wonder of friendship. Books are the perfect place to explore and talk about the complexities of the heart. Here are some of our favourites to get you talking about your emotions.

Your star rating is required. A really good book, it is like a twist on Romeo and Juliet, where two people manage to find love even though they are surrounded by hate and prejudice. This book is honestly amazing!! I would really recommend it as it is a really gripping read, the series in generally is really good and I recommend reading the rest of the series once you have read the first book!! But i love the fact that this book includes love.

This has to be one of the best books I have ever read. I think that this is an amazing book and is a take on Romeo and Juliet, but two lovers are trying to fight racial prejudice. I thought that it was going to take me forever to read this book but as soon as you start it you can't stop! A very emotional and moving story of two people and how they battled racial prejudice whilst having a relationship. Blackman strives to create an atmosphere that is hostile towards white Noughts but yet two people manage to find love in the midst of it all.

A very interesting and unique read! This book is really good and is a bit like a take on Romeo and Juliet except they don't both die at the end - no, I'm not telling you who or even if they do I read this book in a day - you get really hooked into it I really enjoyed this book.

It was exciting, fun and easy-to-read. Soon as you opened the front door, there was our fifth-hand threadbare nylon carpet and its seventh-hand cloth sofa. Why couldn't my family live in a house like Sephy's?

Mealtime at the McGregor house. Callum Richard Madden tries to explain why he is so furious that Sephy Ony Uhiara called him a blanker. KAMAL If the Liberation Militia think this cowardly, barbaric act of terrorism is going to win over the population of this country to their way of thinking, then they are very much mistaken.

Several weeks after Callum helps Sephy escape from the Liberation Army kidnap attempt, he hears she is pregnant. He risks capture by coming to see her at home and is arrested. If he will persuade Sephy to agree to an abortion, his sentence will be commuted from execution to life imprisonment. Callum rejects the offer. Do you ever wonder what it would be like if our positions were reversed? If we whites were in charge instead of you Crosses? The RSC production In Malorie Blackman's novel the different skin colour can of course be kept from the reader, but on stage it's immediately obvious.

About Malorie Blackman Malorie Blackman is a best-selling author of books for children and young adults and has been Children's Laureate since No Blankers in our school!

The story is dramatic and a number of dangerous events occur against a rising tide of Nought militarism. This is a well written and powerful story that really makes you think. View all 10 comments. Jan 08, Jeffrey rated it did not like it Recommends it for: No One. Given the choice between rereading Naughts and Crosses again and having someone slowly puncture my right eye with a rusty icepick, I would gladly take the rusty icepick. Some may think I am exaggerating, but that is only because they have not read this tripe.

World-building at its worst, that's Naughts and Crosses. I could not engage in the narrative, I despised the narrators because they bored me, and the narrative voice would have been more effective as a third-person omniscient.

Character dev Given the choice between rereading Naughts and Crosses again and having someone slowly puncture my right eye with a rusty icepick, I would gladly take the rusty icepick. The figurative language seemed to be composed by a fourth grader. View all 12 comments. Jul 28, Rose rated it really liked it Shelves: young-adult , drama , tough-subjects , favorites , romance , psychological , characters-of-color , dystopia , a-to-z-ya-challenge I feel an enormous amount of pressure writing this review, but probably not for the reason that you might think.

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 I feel an enormous amount of pressure writing this review, but probably not for the reason that you might think.

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 this up and judge it from their respective positions and experiences. Yet, I think of the novels I've perused in the reverse discrimination measure, this is the one that was closest to hitting the nail on the head with how to portray it - with sensitivity, with enough wiggle room to get you to think on the subject matter for itself while still exploring progressive attitudes, and even if the characters were naive as anything else and oh were they in this book!

I have a few points I want to make starting off this review before delving into the story itself, maybe it might help you to understand how I took this narrative in on a personal level. Let's begin with a bit of a reflection. Noughts and Crosses was written by a woman of color from the UK, yet she told a narrative that really spoke to me in more ways than one as an American woman of color. One thing that Blackman mentions in the heart of this novel is that - and I'm paraphrasing this - history is often lost to time in the scope of narrative, shaped by the winners of conflicts where there may be deeper implications that run with those.

And that has been proven to be true - we don't always hear all of the stories that go into the struggles of oppression of any minority group - the focus here being race. We don't hear the individual story of the black young lady who's denounced by members of her own race for having an insinuated sexual relationship with a white man. She's told that she's "easy" or "too good" to have a relationship with someone of her own background. In the heart of that particular time, there were even some who considered any kind of interracial relationship - regardless of consent or age - as an argument for accusations of rape.

You don't often hear these individual stories of prejudice in textbooks where the larger social struggles are noted. The larger stories are certainly worth noting, but so are the smaller ones that aren't often seen. Some of them are often lost to time where there are no longer those to tell them if they're not written or passed across the generational gaps in various means - through art, through verbal stories, through varied dimensions. The above narratives I mentioned are true stories.

Horrible but true. It makes me thank God I live in a time that I do, that the sacrifices that people made in the past shaped the present progressions known today so that they give me freedoms now that weren't recognized in the past. But the pain remains knowing what people had to suffer through in order to get to that point. I'm sure you guys knew this was coming from me because I read both of those books before "Noughts and Crosses", and reading this made it more clear to me exactly where and why those books dropped the ball.

Focus on the characters, not simply the issue. In Blackman's narrative, you understand who Callum and Sephy are from the get-go and are given a chance to care about them, even if their attitudes and positions in the dynamic of the conflict are not shaped because of their naivete. Sephy's 14 when the narrative stars, Callum's 15 - they're kids, and plausibly just coming to age with some of the measures working against them though I would argue in real world context, there are some children who've had to come to terms much sooner than that - see the story of Ruby Bridges, if you want an example.

Granted, yes, Sephy's father is in politics and he has very strong political and prejudicial opinions that are obviously anti-Nought Noughts are white, Crosses are Black in this world. She's a member of a family who is in a position of power, and with that power comes the potential for the struggle dynamic.

You also understand that Callum's family is the victim of oppression in more than one dimension his mother was fired from her job, subverting the education of one child - Jude - towards another's. The other in this case being Callum.

Callum and Sephie live in a social climate that makes it very difficult for them to be friends. The story doesn't do it in a way that obviously milks the dramatic contexts. Callum wants an education, though his family pushes him with respect to his achievements. Sephy's in an isolated environment with respect to her father's ranking and everything she does gets put across in a measure of her "privileged" lifestyle.

The characters and how they deal with the issues - not the issues working them - are shaped in the framework. Callum and Sephie are also established to have had a relationship for a long time - not an instalove measure. They endured a significant deal of challenges to that relationship from family and external measures. For example, I think the story of what happened on the train was worth noting.

Their different viewpoints and coming to terms with the incident was a great illustration of how they recognized the prejudices surrounding them, but weren't aware of how to speak of them to each other because of their respective ages and coming to terms with how society viewed their interactions. It felt realistic. For Victoria Foyt, trying to show prejudice in "Revealing Eden" was a cluster you-know-what from the very beginning.

It was all about Eden, it was never about anyone else but Eden, and she made it about her "Help! It was hard to sympathize with her, let alone the messages that were beaten over the head about her skin color, about her villainizing everybody else who was different from her, the implausible way that functioned in her not-so-scientifically sound society, among other aspects.

For Laura Preble, "Out" had the instalove factor that killed it just as much as the casual dismissal of all the rules in the overblown society that was working against their relationship, right up until around the time when their relationship was "discovered. Contexts that actually make sense!

Even for the discrimniflip senario that's in this book - the "what if" here makes more sense and feels less forced down the throat of the reader.

It gives you the chance to consider several things. What if the minority group faces educational limitations, has to deal with common slurs and everyday examples of prejudice, what if they face internal prejudices that come with skin color and perceptions of beauty, what if the limitations exist in trying to find employment or make a living for one's family, and even being able to not cope with the smaller scales of oppression in addition to the larger ones and taking steps to bite back against it - fight fire with "fire"?

I really appreciated that Blackman dealt with all of these dimensions, and she does so in a way that makes you feel the losses when they hit and they hit pretty hard. The path to civil rights in this country, among others, has often had the incurring of loss of life and violent uprising to shape a part of it. It's a part of the struggle and a realistic notation of different approaches to gain the same means.

There have been demonstrative measures done in peace in the scheme of the Civil Rights movement sit-ins such as the one at the diner in Charlotte, NC, Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat in Alabama, the March on Washington, etc. I saw the parallels the story was trying to draw with that and it didn't feel exploitative to me, but rather an alternate mirroring that took into consideration many dimensions, though certainly not all.

The group that Callum becomes immersed in after the certain tragedies that occur in his immediate family felt plausible to me because of the motivation and conjunction of the group trying to fight against the oppression of the society. Do I believe what they did Callum included was right?

No, I don't - it boiled my blood when I read it, and particularly how Sephy ended up becoming involved in that crossfire.

Do I think it could've been portrayed a bit more even? Absolutely, it had some clear flaws in the portrayal. But at least I understood it. I understood the events that led up to that point, even if it felt like a stage drama on the level of "Romeo and Juliet", "West Side Story", "Raisin in the Sun", or something along that notation. It was dramatic, maybe even a little overmuch with the drama in measures, but it sold its point to me.

For Victoria Foyt's "Revealing Eden" - it was ridiculous to the point of oblivion. It wasn't plausible considering the heavily scientifically inaccurate hinging of "melanin theory" in that shaping of the world, it wasn't plausible that Eden Newman note the name was the saving grace of the "Pearl" race, "creationist theory" and championing of mankind, and it wasn't plausible in any consideration that she, in her relationship with Bramford, spent almost every other chance denouncing and capitalizing on her prejudices against him among other racial groups, then turning around and saying "I love you".

The problem with that was the championing of one relationship without consideration or equivalent notation of the other or multiple dimensions. There wasn't a two way struggle or examination of differences, but rather a heavily loaded statement of "This love is forbidden, you will suffer or die if you don't conform. At least Blackman had the maturity to approach the divisions and build a plausible contrast within the world that was similar to the stakes of the reality we know, while building the realm in its own context.

It may take a bit of getting into because it's slower paced and the characters are young and still coming to terms with the meaning of the prejudices they face in society in the beginning of the story. After a certain point, when the conflicts start hitting, they hit one right after the other. I actually came to feel for the characters after a time even when I felt their rationale infuriated me. I think by a certain point of the book, I felt that it was one after the other and the worst possible thing you could think happened actually happened.

It wasn't without context or came out of nowhere, but it wasn't pulling any punches - sometimes within contexts that I think could've been better fit for form. I think Sephy and Callum's romantic ties could've been better portrayed and in maybe more subtle cues within many of the overarching punches. Somehow I wanted more from it, though I saw the conflict between them and understood that while there were aspects that drove them apart, it was an appreciation and respect for each other that kept them close.

And then there was the ending. Oh my word, my brain and my heart broke in two. It's probably the best ending for something in the dramatic framework that I could think of for this story, but it packs a mighty punch in the spectra of the dramatic. I understood in some turns why it went in that direction, but for some, I could certainly see why it may not sit well in the overarching play by play this story takes in its progression.

It may feel for some like one additional conflict that leaves you on the fringe among some of the others. All in all, though, I actually liked this, and despite places where I think it could've established itself more than what it did, with greater degrees of vetting of the conflicts and examination of the character dimensions of the relationship, I appreciated what it provided in its consideration.

Shelves: speculative-fiction , , alternate-history , ya. 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 Sephy and Callum are the best of friends.

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 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. 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. Shelves: fave-book-boyfriends , all-time-favorites.

This book destroyed me, heart and soul. Please understand, this book is absolutely incredible. And I'm not including those crying gifs simply for effect. I was legitimately sobbing by the end of this book. I was literally crawling on the floor collapsing. It was probably the most intense reaction to a book I've ever had.

My boyfriend was both concerned and irritated. I tried to explain but he hates reading so I couldn't even begin and he's just sitting there like: This is one of my favorite books of This book destroyed me, heart and soul. I tried to explain but he hates reading so I couldn't even begin and he's just sitting there like: This is one of my favorite books of all time.

I even tweeted at the author and tried to tell her that her book was amazing. She favorited the tweet :D The love story. The characters. The bluntness of the storytelling. Don't leave me with my emotions all by myself. Recommended to Jenn by: Uhmmm We'll go with that. Shelves: crazy-moms , food-for-thought , saw-that-comin , reviewed. The higher you climb , the further you have to fall Pros: 1.

The dual POV. It really does shed some light. You may not agree with what they did, but at least you know why they did it. The characters are realistic and complex. I especially liked Callum, because he was a realist, and smart, too. Sephy irritated me to no end because she was so naive.

But then again, I'm pretty sure she was supposed to be that way. It would be weird if she were like Callum, because their circumstances are so different. They are so different. At least it was food for thought? Cons: 1. This was pretty much the story of the Civil Rights movement except racially reversed. I was hoping for something more imaginative.

I already know about the real Civils Rights Movement, I don't need to read a re-hash "re-hash" what a funny word of it. Much of the plot was predictable. There were few, if any, surprises. The cover of the book says "a thriller". Aren't thrillers supposed to be, you know, thrilling? I was very unthrilled, and maybe even a bit bored for the majority of this book. It was slow to progress. Damn that ending. Final Comments: I do not plan on continuing with this series. I'm just not engrossed enough.

I was expecting something more original, or at least more exciting. So yeah, that pretty much sums it up. That's all I guess. Jul 28, James rated it it was amazing. Now post emancipation, it is the non-black population who are distinctly disadvantaged and impoverished in this alternative future society which is ruled and controlled by the dominating blacks Crosses. An attempt to provoke thought and to revisit the absurdities of a society ies run along lines on racial disadvantagement and the domination of one ethnic group or groups in society by another controlling ethnic almost always white group.

Moreover — to consider the possibility of a third way — a society run entirely along non-racially defined power structures. This is an original, intelligent, perceptive and though-provoking series of books — and whilst squarely aimed at the Young Adult market, it clearly transcends the restrictive boundaries of that genre.

It is very encouraging that Blackman's series of books has been so successful and is widely read and made available in UK schools — as it quite rightly should continue to be. A society where citizens are divided based on their skin tones. Noughts are the white citizens, most of them are laboring class and they are controlled by Crosses , who are the black citizens.

Crosses ruled everything. Our main characters, Callum McGregor , a Nought and Persephone "Sephy" Hadley , a Cross were best friends since they were young and later on became lovers. There are so many things happened in their lives. Still their love story is forbidden. They must stick to their own kind or else, there will be consequences. The story is unique, powerful, realistic and beautifully written. I shed some tears towards the last part of this book..

I decided not to read the novella yet for some reasons. This book tackles about racism and injustice,. Their world is really harsh. There's bullying, violence, etc. I love Callum and Sephy because they have an unconditional love, they don't give a fucking damn about their racial tones even if they're judged by other people. Sometimes, it happens in real life. Quite devastating, but that's reality. Remember, we cannot please all people, but they cannot control someone's feelings of who to love.

I highly recommend this series to everyone. View all 8 comments. Believe the hype! It is THAT good. And bring a damn Kleenex box when you do decide to read it! View 1 comment. Alright, it's been about 24 hours, I'm less emotional, lets review this. I'm going to start my review with like a fuck-ton of warnings. Warning 1: I don't honestly feel very comfortable reviewing this, so it's not going to be very in depth. Warning 2: These are my thoughts based on what I know and who I am, if I am ignorant in any way in this review, please use this as a good time to educate me, not yell at me.

Warning 3: I loved this book a little too much to be fully unbiased. So, this book fel Alright, it's been about 24 hours, I'm less emotional, lets review this. In this book we are essentially in an un-specified time period, but the events follow very similarly to the civil rights era of the late 50s and 60s in the US. But, in this story, the races are switched. You have the noughts, the lesser white race, and the Crosses, the superior black race.

This book really just focuses on the story of a black girl and a white boy who have spent their entire lives being friends and are just trying to exist and figure out how to grow up in a world where their interactions are seen as wrong and, on some occasions, even dangerous. And I fucking loved the social commentary in this. Not only are we having so many social commentaries on race relations, we are having commentary on sensitivity, why certain actions and certain comments cause more harm than they are ever intended to.

How sometimes "I was just trying to help" just makes things worse. This book, in my opinion, is having the discussions that people are wanting to see in literature lately, but was having them 17 years ago.

I appreciate that this was told by an own voices author, someone who I trust would help me understand what people would have felt in this time period, and someone who would tell me things accurately. It also teaches a lot of black history, and does so really smoothly within the plot of the story. Honestly though, the things I took away were really the sensitivity things.

Things to say, things not to say. Sometimes, it's really difficult to know what to say because you don't want to upset people, especially when you just don't understand how something feels and have never experienced what others have, and this book had some really good lessons on kind of things to avoid.

I recently in another book review complained that an author used a situation in her book and called out racism and rather than teaching, she just straight up yelled at everyone. This book teaches, and I so so so appreciated it. However, all of this comes from a white person.

I don't actually know if anything in the book is even accurate, if people feel like the lessons in this book were accurate or spot on. I have read a few own voices reviews that actually seem to agree, but I really recommend reading those in order to get more information on this. But based on the contents of these pages, I just loved every single moment.

Aug 15, Carolyn Storer rated it it was amazing Shelves: book-list , young-adult , favourites. 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 Wow, this book is outstanding. 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! 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!

Nov 08, Rachel Pirie rated it liked it. 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 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. I hope it's the latter but I was left a little unclear, hopefully the remainder of the trilogy will reveal it for me.

This is a very important book for what it is telling you and I think it's very important that the audience this book is written for are children and teenagers. Unfortunately, this means that I dislike it because of that, since there is no theme or amount of excellent writing that will make me enjoy a story that is narrated by annoying, self-centred "AH ME" teenagers. The plot itself-the story arc that propels the book along-is pretty much a thin, Things That Happen, standard kind of plot that wasn't hugely appealing but kept the whole thing tied together quite nicely.

There are a few surprises, but I'd wager they're nothing you can't find in half a dozen other novels that are of the dystopian nature. However, the themes of the book racism and things relating to it is exceptionally poignant and very important.

It is at times obvious-which it needs to be-and sometimes blunt-which it needs to be-and often harsh-which it needs to be. I can't say I've read anything like this before but I couldn't help from feeling annoyed that it wasn't written with me in mind. I hated all the characters to the point that I really didn't care what happened to them, except as a whole society. I am definitely intrigued by this world and I think it's a very original unoriginal world and, despite the fact I am not the intended audience, it really did make me think.

If you do enjoy Young Adult novels, or novels that have teenage protagonist who speak in the first person-either in diary form or not-then I strongly recommend this to you, I really do. May 27, Shaz rated it it was amazing Shelves: own , favourites , Holy crap this was amazing! I don't know how to categorise this book it's sort of a contemporary set in a world where history is alternate to our world's history but still pretty much the same.