What would life be like if hardcore racism still ran amok, except darker-skinned people had all the power and white people didn’t? This is the story of Naughts & Crosses.
Callum is a naught, or a white person in this world. His best friend in the whole wide world is Sephy, who is a cross. Callum’s mother used to work for Sephy’s family and they grew up together. When they were young, they didn’t think anything of it. As they grew older, they had to sneak off to be together.
Things start to get real when Callum and a few other naughts are allowed into Sephy’s school. It was really just a political move; the crosses don’t really want them there. Callum believes that he needs to pretend that he’s not Sephy’s friend when they’re at school, yet Sephy doesn’t understand why. This causes a lot of problems, because nobody thinks naughts and crosses should be friends.
At the same time, a group of naught terrorists is trying to fight for equality using violence. Tragically, they are pulled apart over time, even though in their hearts, they still love each other. I won’t tell you how their story ends, but this is not the book to read if you’re looking for a traditional happily ever after.
This is one of those books that is designed to make you think. A lot of the events in this book must have been inspired by history, such as the integration of schools in the United States, where the national guard had to be called in to ensure the black kids got to school safely. The Liberation Militia, the terrorist group of naughts in this story, could have been inspired by the more violently minded wing of the civil rights movement. There were little details, such as band-aids coming in colors for light-skinned people, that were also brought up in this book. My son experienced this the other day; some of his Halloween makeup was unusable because it was made for white people.
I enjoyed the book and the pages practically flew by. Will I read the next four books in the series? Maybe. The main characters in the next stories are different and so it’s not my top priority though.
While I don’t know about the rest of the series, I recommend Naughts & Crosses. Don’t read this book if you’re in the mood for a happily ever after, but if you’re in the mood for a tragedy that makes you think, this might be just the book for you.