Effective Questions for Noughts & Crosses
Pre-reading
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
 Use contextual clues to anticipate the content, theme and viewpoint of a novel
 Use textual clues to infer character and relationships
Task 1
1. What does the cover, particularly the colour and design, add to their thoughts? Draw out
ideas on contrast and conflict.
2. Some editions of the novel include a quotation from Benjamin Zephaniah about the novel. He
calls it ‘intelligent, emotional and imaginatively wicked’. Question his inclusion and tell them
that he is a British-born West Indian writer who has written extensively on racial issues. Ask
students what this knowledge adds to their speculation about the cover.
3. Make predictions about the sort of story they are going to be reading and what themes it
might include.
Task 2 – Think Pair Share
1. When someone tries to give you advice or tells you what to do, do you say, ‘But you don’t
understand – you can’t possibly – you’re not me’?
2. Do you find yourself changing your mind about something once you have heard someone
else’s point of view? Provide an example.
3. When you read a book by someone or about someone very different from you, does it help
you to see some things from another point of view?
4. Can we ever really know what it’s like to be in someone else’s shoes?
Prologue
1. Why is it rare for Jasmine Hadley to giggle?
2. Why does Meggie McGregor call Jasmine Hadley ‘Mrs Hadley’ while Jasmine calls her
‘Meggie’?
3. Why is Meggie worried that Sephy and Callum’s friendship might not last? ‘No barriers. No
boundaries. Not yet anyway’ (p. 9).
4. Why must Meggie ‘keep her mouth well and truly shut’ (pp. 9–10)?
5. Why does she want a virus to wipe out every single Cross?
6. When Kamal Hadley slaps Jasmine, what does that suggest about him?
7. Why is Meggie patching Jude’s school trousers?
8. Why is she so keen on his education?
9. Who are the Crosses? Who are the noughts?
10. What sort of society is being represented?
11. How far is it like or unlike our own, and in what respects, e.g. social and class divisions,
problems in relationships within families and between friends?
12. Noughts and Crosses are unfamiliar names for social groupings. What do the names
represent?
13. Where are the reader’s sympathies at this stage, and why?
14. How might these relate to the writer’s viewpoint?
15. What will happen to Callum and Sephy? Make two or three predictions and justify those
choices with reasons based on the opening Prologue.
Page 19 to 33 Viewpoint
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
 Identify and evaluate narrative viewpoint
 Determine the key points about social relations in the world of this novel
1.
2.
3.
4.
Analyse the effect of the choice of first-person narrative.
What pieces of evidence suggest the contradiction in Sephy’s viewpoint?
Are we drawn to question her perspective?
What does the chapter teach us about social relationships in the Noughts and Crosses world?
(Model selecting key quotations, e.g. the inferior position of the noughts, recognized in
Callum’s comment on education (p. 25): ‘Until a few years ago… educated up to the age of
fourteen’. There seems to be ‘a huge, great wall between’ them (p. 27). Sephy thinks nothing
can come between them (p. 28).
5. Draw attention to the description of Sephy’s home on pp. 30 and 32. What does this tell us
about the Hadley family and what does it add to our ideas about social relations?
P34
Read the opening of Chapter 2 (up to ‘Mum and Dad wouldn’t part with it’ (p. 34).
1. What happens to Sephy’s first-person narrative and why has the writer chosen to make this
change?
2. How does the content of this opening link to the last chapter?
3. Identify the contrasts between the nought underclass lifestyle and that of the ruling Crosses.
4. Is the Hadley family or the McGregor family the happiest? What are their reasons for this
happiness?
Emphasize that before that fatal first day:
a) Callum was determined – look again at the end of page 41
b) Sephy was optimistic: ‘It was going to be wonderful’ (p. 43).
Recall Kamal Hadley’s attitudes and his mysterious visitor.
1. Do we trust Kamal?
2. How does Sephy feel about him, and what does this suggest about her character at this point
in the story?
3. On the fatal day, why does the word ‘blanker’ cause so much offence?
4. What is the most significant choice Malorie Blackman has made in writing her novel (the
black/white reversal). Then read her letter at the beginning of the Reading Guide to further
clarify thinking.
Pages 59–120 Language and theme
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
 Identify discrimination implicit in language
 Identify some of the novel’s major themes
1. What forces might drive Sephy and Callum apart? (these can be people as well as ideas). For
example, hatred or fear or tyrants like Kamal.
2. What forces will keep them together?
3. Can their relationship survive?
4. What threatens that relationship?
5. which of the forces is most destructive of their friendship and indeed if any will separate
them.
6. How do you feel about Jude? The writer says that he ‘teased maliciously’ (p. 40). Why is he
doing this? Is he jealous?
7. Evaluate Malorie Blackman’s choice of the double narrative. Draw out the fact that the double
narrative emphasizes the difference in perspective of Callum and Sephy, to attract attention to
the damaging social divide.
8. How do Callum and Sephy both feel, a) before he arrives at Heathcroft High, and b) when he
and the other noughts arrive.
9. Why is it hard for Sephy to understand Callum’s feelings when she uses the word ‘blanker’ to
condemn her fellow students?
10. Kamal Hadley – how do you feel about this man and why?
Pages 121–149 Theme and reader response
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
 Identify how far and in what ways a writer draws on history to inform fictional events
 Begin to develop judgements on writers’ and readers’ sympathies
1. What is the relevance of the section headings? Eg. what is the significance of the heading The
Turning, when the previous heading was Callum and Sephy?
2. How does the double narrative contribute to the reader’s sense of the two different views of
the world in the section The Picnic?
3. What is the major force that threatens the friends? (e.g. racial conflict/inequality)
4. p. 9 on Martin Luther King and Malcolm X – the different approaches to civil rights. Consider if
the philosophies about using violence or peaceful means to oppose racial discrimination is
present in the novel.
5. Do you think violence is ever justified in opposing racial inequality?
6. What approaches to civil rights (fighting for the equality of all people in a society) have been
evident in Noughts and Crosses so far? Allow pairs a few minutes to think about some points
before collecting ideas for a list on the board, e.g. Callum’s belief that education matters most
(p. 41), Jude’s leaning towards violence (p. 67, Jude says: ‘Long Live the Liberation Militia’).
7. pages 121–149 - How many different views are represented in this section? For example, Jude
has strong feelings about inequality which he expresses in violence; his Dad feels the hatred
but does not act (Jude calls him a ‘spineless wonder’, p. 123); Meggie admires Alex Luther’s
‘peaceful methods’ (p. 130).
8. In what respects has Malorie Blackman drawn on the history of the struggle for racial equality
in Noughts and Crosses?
9. What do you think made her include the chapter on the history lesson? What point is this
episode making about history?
10. Malorie Blackman has been criticized for not representing peaceful protest with sufficient
strength. What do you think? Why did she do that?
11. With which characters do your sympathies lie? Justify those sympathies by referring to the
text. Where do you think Malorie Blackman’s sympathies lie, and why? Read Malorie
Blackman’s comment on page 11 where she claims her sympathies lie with Callum, a white
boy.
Research task
For every task, use either books and/or the Internet for your research. In collating your findings, select
suitable images to be used to display with your writing. You are expected to write around 500 of your
own words to answer your research questions (don’t just print out materials from websites).
Task 1
In Chapter 30, Callum is forced to accept a Cross view of history. On page 446 of Noughts and Crosses,
Malorie Blackman has more to say on this topic. Find out about two or more of the historical figures
mentioned in that chapter (Garrett Morgan, Charles Drew, Daniel Hale Williams, Matthew Henson,
Elijah McCoy). What does your answer prove about the way history is written?
Task 2
Martin Luther King advocated non-violent resistance to unjust laws in America. Why was he so against
violence? Find out about his campaign to gain equality in the southern states of America. Why was he
shot dead? Does Malorie Blackman have anyone like Martin Luther King in her story?
Task 3
Malcolm X believed that the end justified the means, so he believed violence was a necessary part of
the fight for equality. Find out what Malcolm X did to fight for equality. Why did he call himself
Malcolm X? Why was he shot dead? Does Malorie Blackman have anyone like Malcolm X in her story?
Task 4
Malorie Blackman mentions the Stephen Lawrence case as an inspiration for writing Noughts and
Crosses. Find out who Stephen Lawrence was and why his case caused so much publicity in England
only a few years ago. Why do you think his case inspired Malorie Blackman to write her novel?
Pages 149–182 Structure
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
 Trace how a writer uses characters to structure a plot
 Identify the turning points in the developing plot and patterns in words to link to the concept of
tragedy
page 149–151.
1. which would you choose – being someone, or making a difference? Why would they choose
that option?
P152-160
2. focus on the fortunes of the two families and the parallels between them, ( WS5a).
3. Think about the similarities and differences between the main characters. For example, is
Lynny anything like Minnie? Has Jasmine Hadley anything in common with Lynny?
page 160-182 (end of Chapter 42).
1. Continue to look for parallels between the two families (using WS5a)
2. This section of the novel is called ‘Breakdown’. What is the ‘breakdown’ in this section for
Callum’s family?
3. Why does Sephy decide to attend Lynny’s funeral, and what are the consequences?
4. What hints are there in these chapters that worse is to follow?
5. Key plot point – a man with a pony-tail is with Callum’s father on page 175. Have we met him
before? Where and when? What is he doing?
6. Why has Malorie Blackman drawn these parallels between the two families? What does she
achieve by doing so?
7. Discuss the concept of tragedy – the idea that some people are ill-fated and that they cannot
succeed, even though they promised to be special. Lynny’s comment to Callum suggests this.
8. What are the hints that worse may follow?
‘My ineffectual days are over’ (p. 179)
‘Something in his voice scared me. Scared the living daylights out of me’ (p. 180)
‘… pave my way faster to hell’ (p. 180)
‘… and the shadows lengthen’ (p. 182).
9. : ‘This is growing up, isn’t it?’. Identify at least three things that have happened from pages
144 to 181 to make her say this. (WS5b supports this task)
Growing up - Chapter 31
Sephy overhears her parents arguing, and is dismayed to hear that her father is seeking a separation.
Not only that, but she also hears him talk about his son and his possible future wife. Sephy feels her
world is crumbling because she feels can no longer rely upon either of her parents for support. She
realizes that this might be what is meant by ‘growing up’.
Question - Identify three more things that happen between pages 144 and 181 that change things
and make Sephy or Callum realize that growing up brings change and challenge, possibly even
heartache. Give reasons for your choice of points.
P179
page 10 of the Reading Guide
1. Have you changed your minds about social or racial inequality at all, since beginning this
novel?
2. Display Ryan McGregor’s words from page 179, ‘My ineffectual days are over’. What does he
mean by this.
3. What do we know already about the Liberation Militia in Noughts and Crosses?
4. What might Ryan and/or Jude do if they join the LM?
Pages 185–233 Narrative tension
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
 Identify how a writer builds narrative tension
 Evaluate how far a writer’s viewpoint is evident in a fictional text
 Read pages 185 to 201
1. Identify the ominous hints which the writer is using to build tension in this section
 (adults make mistakes, p. 187, Jude’s membership of the LM, p. 190, reference to ‘a
noose’ p. 191, Jude’s response to the mention of the shopping centre, p. 197).
2. Consider the lightness of tone when Callum agrees to meet with Sephy and when Sephy is
shopping with her mother. This lightness acts as a contrast just before the crisis.
3. Predict the consequences of the bombing. How is this plot development engaging the reader?
P201- 207.
Dwell on the description of the atrocity on page 203
1. how does Malorie Blackman want the reader to feel?
2. She uses powerful images of violence and strong words to describe it: ‘carnage’, ‘atrocity’,
‘cowardly, barbaric act of terrorism’ (p. 203), innocent people wounded – a woman, a child
(p. 203). Yet, are these her choices? Or one of her characters’? Or someone else’s? Why have
these words been used? How can we describe them and the effect they have upon us?
3. consider how different Jude’s view will be from Meggie’s. In questioning him, draw out Jude’s
fanaticism and ask students what has made him so violent and extreme.
4. Can the bombing be justified, ever?
5. Does Malorie Blackman have a view to be detected? Reconsider what she says in the Reading
Guide on page 4, and what is included on pages 6, 7, 8 and 9. (Finally, reiterate the point that
Malorie Blackman’s ominous hints make readers anticipate worse events. We want to find out
if we have predicted correctly – a clever device to keep us reading.)
Reading chapters 51 to 57
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How does Sephy cope with change in these chapters?
What happens to Callum’s family and why?
How do Sephy and Callum feel about one another in these chapters?
What in particular happens to Callum at the end of Chapter 56?
Why does Sephy decide she wants to go to boarding school?
What ominous hints or narrative hooks do you notice?
Pages 233–257 Genre and plot
Learning outcome
Students will be able to:
 Identify how a writer manipulates genre
and plot to maintain reader engagement
1. Which genre would they place the text so far (love story, family story, tragedy, school story,
thriller?) (Malorie Blackman calls the book ‘a story of love’.)
2. Read pages 233 to 246 - focus on the genre to which they think this section belongs.
3. Chapter 60 - begin to consider why Malorie Blackman has introduced this sort of plot detail at
this stage. Is it like a detective story – what do they expect of this genre? Or a police drama –
what about that genre? What do you already know about detective/police/law drama?
4. Page 246 to page 257 how does Malorie Blackman maintain reader interest. (For example,
suggesting that Ryan McGregor will hang, introducing Kelani Adams (who is paying for her?),
bringing back Kamal Hadley for one of his rare appearances for the trial (do we like him any
more this time?
5. How have we arrived at this trial with Ryan under threat of execution by hanging? Where did
all this begin? Who is responsible for all this? Encourage students to see how human choices
have consequences.
6. consider the novel so far - Can they plot the key events that have led to Ryan McGregor’s
confession of the Dundale bombing? They can choose to represent this as a flow chart, a
storyboard, a list of bullet points – whatever suits their learning style.
Pages 261–286 Reader response
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
 Identify the dramatic potential of a court scene in fiction
 Exploit dramatic potential of language for media reporting
1. Can you recall any TV and film trials?
2. Explore why these make good drama. (Use court case from To Kill A Mockingbird as example)
3. Draw out the key characteristics of a trial that appeal to an audience/reader, e.g. the tension
of not knowing the result, the ups and downs of the questioning, the revelations from some
witnesses, the unexpected twists in the evidence, the skill of the barristers, the delight in
4.
5.
6.
7.
seeing an unpleasant witness being cross-examined, the satisfaction as the truth emerges or
horror when it fails to do so, the shifts in sympathy occasioned by events.
Predict the verdict, and why.
Is this a dramatically successful part of the novel – and why, or why not.
Are there any bad omens (e.g. page 284 – Callum’s dream of being shut in a box)?
Has Malorie Blackman used the classic courtroom drama to good effect?
Pages 289–304 Writer’s craft
Learning outcome
Students will be able to:
 Explore how a writer’s choices (viewpoint, structure, language) affect a reader’s response
Before reading:
1. How have we already seen the ways a writer can affect a reader’s thoughts and feelings?
Refer to students’ TV report and the one in the text describing the bombing, with its emotive
language.
2. How does Malorie Blackman seek to affect the reader’s responses at the end of the previous
chapter: ‘And I heard the verdict that time…’ (p. 286).
3. Point out that the next section is called ‘The Way It Is’ – does this suggest what the verdict
was?
4. How are we expecting the next chapter to start?
After reading - use WS9a to note the writer’s choices and their responses.
5. Why did Malorie Blackman choose to write this part of the novel as she did? (To shock? To
disgust? To increase sympathy for Ryan and increase hatred of Kamal Hadley?)
6. end of Chapter 78 - How successful is Malorie Blackman in directing reader response in this
section? How has she achieved this? WS9b (a short extract from the novel and a task). They
should make a first analysis of how Malorie Blackman’s choices of language, structure and
viewpoint affect reader response in this extract.
Pages 305–331 Comparison
Learning outcome
Students will be able to:
 Recognize the nature of tragedy
1. Reading Guide pages 12–13 - consider the parallels between Romeo and Juliet and Noughts
and Crosses. Work through the tasks as set in the guide but working from what they currently
know of the plot. Ask students if they think Noughts and Crosses will end so tragically. If so,
why do they think this? If not, again, what are their reasons for this belief?
2. Read from pages 305 to 316 – does this remind them of the plot of Romeo and Juliet – in
which respects?
3. Can this happiness last? How do we know it will not? Suggest the story is structured like a
tragedy – refer to page 13 in the Reading Guide.
4. what bad choices do Sephy and Callum make?
5. what clues do we already have that things will deteriorate?
6. read to page 331. what are the tragic clues and bad choices, using WS10a to record the page
references and their reason for choosing it?
7. Do you think the story will end unhappily? If so why should we even bother to read on?
Pages 335–359 Writer’s craft
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
 Select key character developments
 Analyse how a writer’s use of language, structure and viewpoint affect a reader’s response
1. Examine the title of the next section –consider who the hostage will be and ask for reasons to
justify any views.
2. The next section of the novel takes place three years later. What developments in the two
main characters might they predict? Will age have changed them?
3. read up to page 349, noting the key character developments and experiences of Sephy and
Callum. For example, Sephy appears confident after a liberal education. She has joined an
educated dissident group, ‘Crosses fighting for change in the system’ (p. 336). It gives her ‘my
reason for doing well’ (p. 336). She is going to be a lawyer and feels she has ‘direction to my
life’ (p. 338). Callum works his way up the LM ranks and at 19 is a sergeant in a well-respected
cell codenamed Stiletto (p. 344). He has become vengeful and cold; ‘the Callum Ryan
McGregor who loved to sit on the beach and watch the sun go down didn’t exist any more’ (p.
339). He has a reputation as ‘the first one into danger and the last one out’ (p. 343).
4. Why is the reunion with Jude dangerous to Callum and everyone else in the cell?
5. Do they detect any changes in the character of Jude?
6. Why does Callum want to see Sephy?
7. read chapters 92, 93 and 94, focusing on how the writer’s choices of structure, language and
viewpoint affect readers’ responses, using WS11a for class recording. For example in Chapter
92, Blackman uses dialogue and Callum’s viewpoint to suggest the threat to safety that Jude
presents. She describes Callum’s hostility to Jude with phrases like ‘My brother could go rivet
himself’. The reader sees Callum resisting Jude’s bullying while the others present fall for his
‘big man’ act.
8. Analyse how the writer’s use of language, structure and viewpoint affect the reader’s
responses in Chapter 93.
Pages 359–408 Reader response
Learning outcome
Students will be able to:
 Begin to recognize how a writer prompts a reader to anticipate the ending of a novel
Read pages 359 to 380
1. Callum’s internal conflict. This is a large amount of reading but it is a tense and emotional part
of the text. What would be Callum’s best choice right now, and why?
2. How much sympathy do you have for Callum at this time? What will Callum do?
Read pages 380– 386. Predictions
1. What previous plot details and patterns have been developed that might help the reader to
predict what happens in Chapter 101?




The first kiss in the first chapter
The first real embrace when Sephy has been drinking
The balcony scene and Callum’s night in Sephy’s bedroom
The recognition by both parties that they have grown and developed since they last met;
those developments are attractive
 Callum’s wish that someone should ‘Get me out of here, before I do something I’ll regret’ (p.
380)
2 Predict the consequences:
 in the short term
 in the long term.
Pages 409–432 Reader response
Learning outcome
Students will be able to:
 Confirm how a writer prepares a reader for a novel’s conclusion
Briefly return to the Reading Guide, pages 12–13, on the tragic structure.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Has the plot continued to follow the tragic structure?
How far does the plot resemble Romeo and Juliet?
In what ways is it different?
explore the dilemma faced by Sephy. Which would they choose and why?
What would Callum want?
How do you respond to Kamal Hadley’s attitude at this point in the plot?
What is the role of Kamal Hadley in the plot? He is a dark and threatening character
throughout.
Does he do anything good? Can we admire him in any way?
Do Sephy’s feelings for him change over the whole novel?
Is he just the villain? What does he represent?
Is there anyone else in the novel who possesses his amount of calculating nastiness?
Is he too much of a cardboard cut-out of a villain?
What are the possible endings for this novel?
What is likely to be most satisfying, given the themes and the nature of the novel?
Remind students of the tragic overtones throughout – what factors might lead us to suspect
the worst?
Plot the emotional highs and lows of the novel. 2 plot lines – one for Sephy and one for
Callum. How might they match each other? WS13a offers one such graph, for Sephy.
Pages 435–445 Whole text
Learning outcome
Students will be able to:
 Develop their responses to and judgements about a text through exploratory talk
Distribute the Reading Guide p14-15,
1. How far do you agree with these readers’ reviews?
2. What additional points would you like to suggest?
3. How would you persuade the other teachers in the department to use Noughts and Crosses
as their class text next year?
a. How will you present your case?
b. What visual aids will you use?
c. How much of plot will you reveal?
d. What will you say about the characters and their relationships?
e. What will you say about the novel’s themes and the issues that it raises, and how
these relate to your own life and experiences?
f. Will you read out sections of the text? Which parts might you choose and why?
g. What secondary sources might add colour and detail to your presentation? Try
Blackman’s website or book club websites.
h. What information will you use from the Reading Guide?
4. When a novel is written, it is sent to editors who comment on what they like and more
particularly, what they might want changed or cut. Imagine you are an editor. What three
positive comments would you make about the novel to its writer? What two things might you
challenge and why? What three positive comments would they make about the novel to its
writer? What two things might they challenge and why?
Post reading - Evaluating the text
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
 Judge how appropriate Noughts and Crosses has been for class reading
 Use informative and persuasive language to promote a novel or give reasons for not promoting it
1.
2.
3.



How are books chosen for schools? WS15a
what do you think you have learned from reading this novel?
Which of the following do you consider makes Noughts and Crosses a good choice?
The themes and the subject matter are suitable for the age group
The content is unlikely to cause offence to any particular pupil group
The reading demands will suit most of the class, offer some challenges, and be within the
reach of all readers with support
 The language and style will engage all readers
 It is rich enough to engage readers of different abilities, sexes, cultures and interests
 It allows the teacher to address particular and appropriate reading strategies
 It goes beyond previous reading experiences
 It has an appeal for the age group and is topical
 It will lead students to other texts by the same author or on a similar theme
 It will still feel like a good novel in five years’ time
 It lends itself to reading aloud and being shared as a class or group text
 It contains enough starting points for discussion
 The themes and characters are strongly presented and developed
 It has been written since 2000
4. Which are the three most significant criteria that make Noughts and Crosses a good choice
for class reading?
5. What other reasons would you suggest for choosing Noughts and Crosses?