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Overview
Callum is a naught, a second-class citizen in a society run by the ruling Crosses. Sephy is a Cross, and daughter of the man slated to become prime minister. In their world, white naughts and black Crosses simply don't mix — and they certainly don't fall in love. But that's exactly what they've done.
When they were younger, they played together. Now Callum and Sephy meet in secret and make excuses. But excuses no longer cut it when Sephy and her mother are nearly caught in a terrorist bombing planned by the Liberation Militia, with which Callum's family is linked. Callum's father is the prime suspect...and Sephy's father will stop at nothing to see him hanged. The blood hunt that ensues will threaten not only Callum and Sephy's love for each other, but their very lives.
In this shocking thriller, UK sensation Malorie Blackman turns the world inside out. What's white is black, what's black is white, and only one thing is clear: Assumptions can be deadly.
Synopsis
Callum is a naught, a second-class citizen in a society run by the ruling Crosses. Sephy is a Cross, and daughter of the man slated to become prime minister. In their world, white naughts and black Crosses simply don't mix — and they certainly don't fall in love. But that's exactly what they've done.
When they were younger, they played together. Now Callum and Sephy meet in secret and make excuses. But excuses no longer cut it when Sephy and her mother are nearly caught in a terrorist bombing planned by the Liberation Militia, with which Callum's family is linked. Callum's father is the prime suspect...and Sephy's father will stop at nothing to see him hanged. The blood hunt that ensues will threaten not only Callum and Sephy's love for each other, but their very lives.
In this shocking thriller, UK sensation Malorie Blackman turns the world inside out. What's white is black, what's black is white, and only one thing is clear: Assumptions can be deadly.
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. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
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. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.From The Critics
Callum and Sephy grew up together, though they had vastly different lives. Callum is a Naught, the disenfranchised white minority, while Sephy is the privileged class of Crosses, those of African American descent. The two classes are forbidden to mix, but expectedly Callum and Sephy fall for each other in this complicated tale of racism and romance. Flipping the sides of racism make for an interesting set of possibilities, and the parallels to modern racism and its ever-present power make this a great book for discussions with teenagers. With all of the complicated racial overtones, the love story between Callum and Sephy reminded me in many of ways of Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper, though Blackman's novel is more appropriate for an older audience. This disturbing and powerful story reminds readers how hard growing up can be. 2005, Simon and Schuster, 386 pp., Ages young adult.—Jennie Dutton
Children's Literature
When an author sets out to teach the reader a lesson or deliver a message, the story often suffers, and such is the case with this novel. The game of tic-tac-toe is known as "Naughts and Crosses" in the author's homeland, so savvy teenage readers will work out that a "naught" is an O and a "cross" is an X. But will American readers figure this out? If not, they will miss the premise of the story: the ruling class are Crosses, who are black, and the Naughts are white, former slaves who are denied the same treatment as Crosses. And so we have a twist on race relations. Sephy is a Cross and Callum is a Naught and because they played together as children they are bound and determined to buck the system. Only they don't. Their tumultuous relationship goes on and on and on and even teenage readers are likely to find them tedious. Callum ends up dropping out of school and joining a terrorist group to avenge his father's death. Not a very hopeful message for those readers still following the racial plotline. And things get even worse for Callum. It's very hard to have any sympathy for these characters—except for the fact that it must be very tiring to hold up such a loaded theme wrapped in such a flimsy story, especially when you're two-dimensional. 2005, Simon & Schuster, Ages 14 to 18.—Mary Loftus
VOYA
Sephy and Callum's secret friendship is forbidden in their segregated English society, where white naughts like Callum have been liberated from enslavement to black Cross masters for just fifty years. Their families lead parallel, thoroughly separate lives: Sephy's father, Kamal, ranks high in the corrupt Cross government, while Callum's father, Ryan, and brother, Jude, join the Liberation Militia (LM), a radical underground naught organization that combines Black Panther philosophy with IRA tactics. Despite facing casual and institutional racism, the teens love each other, but their budding romance ends abruptly when an LM bomb planted by Jude nearly kills Sephy. After Ryan is accused, convicted, and dies in prison, Callum is expelled from exclusive Heathcroft Academy and joins the LM, while Sephy throws herself into naught liberation activities at a Cross boarding school. Callum is forced to prove his loyalty to the LM by kidnapping Sephy, only to discover his true depth of feelings for her. From here, the plot hurtles towards its inevitable, tragic end. For a thriller, this book's pacing is sluggish at first. The he-said/she-said narration provides both sides of the race and gender divides, but it also hampers character and plot development in the early chapters. Like To Kill a Mockingbird (HarperCollins, 1959), this worthwhile book explores the theme of a ruling class's horror at interracial sexuality-Callum and Sephy finally admit their mutual feelings and make love-and is a scathing indictment of a corrupt, racist criminal justice system. Readers who stick with it will find ample food for thought and action. VOYA CODES: 3Q 3P J S (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal withpushing; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2005, Simon & Schuster, 386p., Ages 12 to 18.—Sophie Brookover