Although many people believe that Malorie Blackman wrote Naughts and Crosses based off of Romeo and Juliet, we have the real insight into why she wrote this spectacular book.
The idea of writing a book that dealt with slavery in cased Blackman's mind completely. Even though her close friend wasn't please with the idea, Blackman didn't let that get in the way. Sure slavery is a painful subject of the past but the legacy of it still lives with us.
"I really believe that the subject of slavery is really important- especially this day and age." - Malorie Blackman
Blackman wanted to show major divisions of society through two main characters, Callum (Naught) and Sephy (Cross). She wanted her book to show the different view points of the divisions of society. The Naughts representing the lower class, while the Crosses represented the upper class and ruling society. Blackman also used Callum and Sephy to show that our perspectives color our thinking.
How did the title Naughts and Crosses come up?
Naughts and Crosses (Tic-Tac-Toe) is a game that invariably nobody wins. Blackman believed that game pretty much summed up racism, nobody won. One of Malorie Blackman's favorite quotes is;
"Racism is man's gravest threat to man- the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason." - Abraham Joshua Heschel
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