Noughts & Crosses
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4.1 • 18 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
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. Against a background of prejudice, distrust and mounting terrorist violence, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum - a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
What if Romeo and Juliet had different shades of skin? Sephy (short for Persephone), nearly 14 at the start of the novel, is dark-skinned, a member of the ruling "Crosses," and the wealthy daughter of a powerful politician. Her best friend is 15-year-old Callum, a pale-skinned "naught" whose mother had been Sephy's nursemaid. The two continue to meet on the sly after Callum's mother is fired. When a new law allows "the cr me de la cr me of naught youth" to attend Cross high schools, Sephy believes she and Callum can be friends in public. Callum hopes a good education will help him rise out of poverty. Instead, the introduction of naughts into Cross classrooms leads to taunting, fist fights and expulsions. British author Blackman's plot, told in Sephy and Callum's alternating voices, is an amalgam of 20th-century race relations. The setting resembles England, but the author mixes in issues similar to American history (such as a school integration scenario reminiscent of Little Rock in 1957). The naughts' protest organization (the Liberation Militia), however, more closely resembles the Irish Republican Army than members of the nonviolent U.S. Civil Rights movement. Indeed, an IRA-like bombing at a shopping center (linked to Callum's family) propels the second half of the story. Unfortunately, the first half unspools leisurely, but those who stick with this novel will get a tragic tale of star-crossed lovers and plenty to ponder. Ages 14-up.
Customer Reviews
Best book to start off
I'm a gamer and well you know I don't read books but this is the first book I actually read due to a school assignment and I loved it!!! XD only reason you wouldn't like this book is you have no imagination or don't like romance..... Anyways loved it read it 5 times!!!!
Probably the best book!!!!!!!!!! Ever!
Noughts and Crosses is by far one of the best books I've ever read, so of course I'd say it's one of the best ever written! And it is! The storyline is fantastic. The emotions a extremely gripping, one minute you'll be smiling a huge genuine smile and literally the next, you'll be crying! Tears actually dripping down your face! Or you'll be so angry you feel like punching the book. But, most of this is because Malorie Blackman is such a fantastic writer!!!!! She writes so whether you like it or not, you get lost and caught up in the book. You get tangled in the story and the characters and the emotions so that you literally can't put it down! The newspapers aren't lying about that! I highly recommend this book. It's the start to a clever, emotional, gripping, tear-jerking, smile-jerking, all-in-all fantastic series! (Warning, once you start you cannot stop,but it's worth it!) I hope, if anyone actually reads this review, that you take my advice, because this is a FANTASTIC book!!!!!! Enjoy!
P.s. Thank you Malorie Blackman! I want to be a writer, and your writing has been the most inspiring thing I could ask for. (Not that I'm counting on you reading this.)
Not worth the $9
Worst book, not worth the $9 i paid for. The storyline was messy and all over the place. I was actually excited to read this book, after reading the sypnosis. But a huge disappointment!