Noughts & Crosses

Using this book as reading for my IB DP students. A good YA alternative history book which is accessible to second language learners.

Book was definitely a young adult book, but in this stage will hopefully open minds to how prejudiced life still is. Painfully obvious though for anyone who is not white...

This book took me back to the 1950's and 60's, a time when segregation was being fought by the likes of Rosa Parks, Martin Lurther King Jr., to name a few. I wasn't alive back then, but we have all seen the images of the 4 or 5 black students walking into a all white high school for the first time. I could only imagine what it would of been like to of been one of those students walking up those steps.This book is about a world where the crosses(blacks) are the first class citizens and the Naughts(whites) are second class. The author has taken history and flipped it on its head. Malorie Blackman did an amazing job bringing this world together, almost to well.The story focuses on two main characters, Stephy a Cross, and Callum a Naught. The two are childhood friends, by way of Callum's mom being employed by Stephy's parents. The book follows how they manage their forbidden relationship in a world of pressured segregation. See, the Crosses are not to mingle with the Naughts and vice versa.The prose was simple and flowed beautifully. I read this book in a day, I just couldn't put it down. This is the first book I have read that is narrated by the two main characters. Malorie Blackman did a wonderful job flowing one voice into the other. I was never confused on who was talking.Warning, if you are looking for a happy ever after, this is not your book. The story is sad and tragic, but also beautiful and heartfelt. I cried several times throughout the book and ugly cried at the end. I loved this story and it has earned a place in my top favorite books of all time.

This is an intriguing drama. I wasn’t expecting all the politics, death, and betrayal. The world doesn’t feel fully developed though. The main characters that are crosses seem really naive. Privilege can’t explain away low self-esteem and a complete lack of self-preservation. Why are the women so fragile and reckless? It seems the tropes of the real world have infiltrated this series. This is a good book but at times too familiar.

This series has been on my TBR for YEARS. And I have put off reading it for all of those years because racism is something that I have a hard time reading about. But this month's challenge was 'something outside your comfort zone' so it was finally time to get on it. It was as cringeworthy as I'd imagined it would be to read (I actually listened to the audiobook). Don't get me wrong, the writing and storytelling were great. It's just a topic that I am loathe to read about.My rating is not due to the topic but rather how the story played out. I do think that it went as life would have played out, however it wasn't what I was looking for in this series. I'm not sure that I would classify this as the middle grade book that I thought it was, nor a romance, though there is a sort of epic Romeo & Juliet sort of love that happens. Unfortunately, all of my disappointments have resulted in me not wanting to carry on with the series.

I gave this book 5 stars because I started reading it, thinking I would see a different dynamic in the world if the Europeans had not taken part in imperialism. Needless to say there was no difference sociologically, there was inequality rampant. This book showed how prejudiced mind sets all combine to ultimately (and inevitably) make a racist society. We can directly apply this to real life, and I hope readers of privileged groups could see why the naughts were all antagonistic towards Sephy. She wasn't the direct source of prejudice, but she was one who did not have to feel the harmful effects of being "lesser".I do feel like the last 100 pages of the book were a little rushed, but I liked how Callum and Sephy changed over the years. I also wished the author described the physical difference between the naughts and crosses to show how that happens everyday in real life inconspicuously.

It was really sad, I was not prepared for it. If you are willing to cry, this is the book for you.

I am happy with this purchase and decided to take the author’s BBC Maestro course. It’s good too.

Really good although it came from a Library

Granddaughter looks it ,