I paused for thought before adding Noughts and Crosses. Not because it isn’t a fabulous book (it is) or hugely popular with teens (it really, really is, having been adapted into a graphic novel, a play and soon to be a UK TV series.)
The book is fifteen years old and a UK YA classic. But I have thoughts :(warning: SPOILERS FOLLOW)
- In the 15 years since publication why have there been no other significant YA successes in the UK starring a main character of colour?
- Do we really need a race reversal story (in the book, blacks are privileged and whites oppressed) to convince us that racism is an evil paradigm that has not only shaped the unequal world we live in but seeps, to this day, into every aspect of life for a person of colour? Really? Still?
- That ending. Killed me.
I’m going to reread (the GN perhaps) and think more heavy thoughts. But none of that changes the fact that this should be in every school library in the UK.
If you’d rather read a review that is more of a review than angsty pondering here is Cuddlebuggery’s
Project 360 