Revision Booklet – Second Year English – Summer 2023

Studied Novel: Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

Summary:
Best friends Callum and Sephy are at their secret spot on the beach, where they kiss to see what it’s
like. Sephy is almost 14 and is thrilled that 15-year-old Callum will be attending her school this year
to integrate it. Callum, though, isn’t sure he and Sephy should act like friends at school—he’s
a nought and she’s a Cross, and noughts and Crosses don’t mix. That night, Sephy overhears her
father, Mr. Hadley, meeting with a nought man and saying that he’s angry “blankers” (a terrible slur
for noughts) are attending his daughter’s school.
The first day of school is horrible for Sephy and Callum both. A mob outside protests the nought
students, and Sephy gets the mob to disperse by screaming that her classmates are acting like
“blankers.” Callum is hurt and offended, so Sephy agrees not to use the slur again.
Over the next few weeks, life gets harder for Sephy and Callum. At home, Callum’s
mum and dad fight about how to best fight for racial equality, while his brother Jude and
sister Lynette (who’s mentally ill and suffers delusions that she’s a Cross) butt heads. Callum also
starts to suspect that Dad and Jude are part of the Liberation Militia, an underground resistance group.
Meanwhile, Sephy tries to help the noughts at school by sitting with them at lunch, but the school
punishes her for this, and three girls viciously beat her up in retaliation. Sephy’s actions offend
Callum and make him feel angry and ashamed, and Callum’s lack of enthusiasm makes Sephy feel
bad just for being a Cross. She also becomes uncomfortably aware of how racist her culture is, and
she fears that her parents will divorce as their fighting escalates.
Callum gets home one day to find Jude and Lynette exchanging blows. To stop all three children from
fighting, Dad tells Jude and Callum why Lynette is ill: three years ago, she and her Cross boyfriend
were beaten for being in an interracial relationship. One night, Lynette leaves the dinner table to go on
a walk. Hours later, police come to the house and deliver the news that Lynette was hit by a bus and
killed. They say it was an accident, but Callum discovers a letter from Lynette under his pillow
admitting she committed suicide. He vows to keep this secret. At about the same time,
Sephy’s mother attempts to commit suicide but survives.
Sephy is the only Cross to attend Lynette’s funeral, but her presence isn’t well-received; Dad and Jude
both tell her to leave. In the weeks after the funeral, Callum realizes that Dad and Jude are becoming
more involved with the LM. Mother’s drinking escalates, which frightens Sephy—but her
sister Minnie says they shouldn’t do anything.
Six months after Lynette dies, Callum and Sephy decide to meet at the mall—but Jude tells Callum
very seriously not to go. Suspecting the worst, Callum races for the mall and drags Sephy out—just
before a bomb explodes, killing seven people. Enraged when she realizes that Dad and Jude were
involved, Mum slaps Dad so hard she breaks her finger. At the hospital, so she can receive treatment,
Mum allows the nurse to scan Callum and Jude’s ID cards, which are linked to their fingerprints. That
night, to help herself sleep, Sephy tries wine for the first time.
The next week is tense at the McGregor house, as Mum attempts to kick Dad out. But one night,
police come to the house and arrest everyone except Jude, who is out. After a full night of
interrogations, Mum and Callum learn that the police have identified Jude as the bomber—but also
that the police are charging Dad with the crimes. Mum and Callum hire a nought lawyer, Mr.
Stanhope, who insists Dad’s case is a lost cause. But when he visits Dad, Mum and Callum learn that
the police told Dad that they had Jude in custody, and that they would release him if Dad confessed to
the bombing. Dad is enraged when he learns the police don’t have Jude, but there’s no way to take
back his confession.
Sephy watches the case unfold on the news from home, and she knows Dad is innocent. Callum is
suspended from school for no reason, but he’s somewhat hopeful about Dad’s prospects when an
anonymous benefactor—presumably Sephy—pays for one of the best lawyers in the country, Kelani
Adams, to represent Dad. But though Dad pleads not guilty to all the charges, and though Kelani
mounts an impressive case, the jury finds Dad guilty of all the charges.
One hot afternoon, Mother makes Sephy put on an expensive dress to go to some undisclosed
location. Sephy enters Hewmett Prison extremely confused and doesn’t realize she’s at Dad’s
execution until guards bring him out to the scaffold. However, just before Dad is killed, the prison
governor stays the execution. When Mum and Callum get to see Dad hours later, Dad says he’s done
fighting. Sephy is extremely disturbed by the day’s events—and is then confused when she learns
Mother paid the McGregors’ legal fees. She goes to bed and cries herself to sleep.
Sephy wakes in the middle of the night to rocks hitting her window—it’s Callum. He climbs up to her
bedroom, enraged by all Crosses’ behavior and half-wanting to take it out on Sephy. Instead, though,
he lies down with Sephy, and she falls asleep. Callum considers hurting her but kisses her instead. He
sneaks out in the morning. Not long after, Dad dies when he’s electrocuted by the prison fence.
Months later, out of the blue, Jude approaches Callum at a burger joint and invites him to join the LM.
Feeling he has no other options, Callum agrees. At the same time, Sephy’s parents have finally agreed
that she can go away to boarding school—but Sephy writes Callum a letter asking him to run away
with her instead. Callum doesn’t read the letter until it’s too late, so he and Sephy part ways for two
and a half years. During this time, Callum works his way up the LM ranks, hurting and killing
Crosses and losing his humanity in the process. Sephy quits drinking, finds herself at school, and joins
a resistance group. She decides to be a lawyer like Kelani Adams when she grows up.
After finishing school, Sephy unwillingly returns home. She’s shocked to find a letter from Callum,
inviting her to meet him on the beach. Sephy goes to the beach—but Callum is there with his LM cell
(which temporarily includes Jude) to kidnap Sephy and extract a ransom out of Mr. Hadley. The cell
takes Sephy to a remote house, where Jude makes Callum prove his loyalty to the LM by tasking
Callum with cutting Sephy’s finger, smearing the blood on a shirt, and filming Sephy reading the
demands for her father.
The cell is expecting the General of the LM’s second-in-command to visit them at their remote
location, but Callum is immediately suspicious of the man, Andrew Dorn. When Andrew asks to see
Sephy, Sephy visibly startles at the sight of him. The next day, Andrew, Jude, and three other
members of the cell, Morgan, Leila, and Pete, leave to deliver more demands to Mr. Hadley, leaving
Callum to guard Sephy.
Alone in the house together, Sephy and Callum have sex, and Sephy instantly bursts into tears
afterwards. Jude and Morgan return before Sephy and Callum are fully dressed and while Sephy is
still crying. They conclude that Callum raped Sephy, and they share that someone told the police
about them: police arrested Leila, Pete is dead, and Andrew is gone. Jude and Callum fight and while
they’re distracted, Sephy runs away into the woods. Callum finds her before Jude or Morgan can, and
he points her toward safety. Before she leaves, Sephy shares that Andrew is working with Mr. Hadley
—Andrew is the man she saw meeting with Mr. Hadley years ago. Sephy gets home safely, and
Callum, Morgan, and Jude split up for their safety.
Five weeks after returning home, Sephy discovers she’s pregnant. Though Minnie initially agrees to
keep Sephy’s pregnancy a secret, she ultimately tells Mother and Mr. Hadley. Mr. Hadley insists that
Sephy get an abortion, but she refuses. Callum learns about Sephy’s pregnancy on the radio a few
months later, and he heads home to see her.
Callum and Sephy meet in the Hadleys’ rose garden, but the police ambush them and arrest Callum.
Nobody will believe Sephy or Callum that he didn’t rape her, though Sephy begins speaking publicly
about not having been raped. Following Callum’s trial, in which he’s found guilty, Mr. Hadley makes
a final attempt to manipulate the couple: he tells them both that if Sephy gets an abortion, he won’t let
the authorities hang Callum. They reject his manipulation, and Callum screams that he loves Sephy as
he’s hanged. Not long after, Sephy gives birth to a baby girl.
Revision questions – complete in your copy. Remember to use PIE and give as much detail as you
can. Each answer should be roughly 1 A4 page. Write in full sentences, remember capital letters, full
stops etc.
1. After reading this summary, identify one key moment. Describe the moment in detail. Explain
why it is important
2. Pick one key character. Describe that character in detail and explain how their character
develops over the course of the novel
3. Pick one relationship in the novel. Describe that relationship in detail and explain how it
develops over the course of the novel
4. Identify the theme of the novel. How is this theme presented?

When studying the novel it might be helpful to:

 Reread passages from the novel that you can’t remember
 Look back over your copy at your classwork & homework from when we studied the novel
 Check over the files on teams in the novel folder

Use the space here to answer Q.1-4 above. Fill all of the space!

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Creative writing practice

Practice writing descriptive passages using the prompts below. Try to write 3 paragraphs for each
picture or write for roughly 20 minutes. Remember to reread your work when you are finished to
check for errors!
Remember:
– Use full sentences, capital letters & full stops
- Appeal to the senses; describe what you might be able to see, hear, touch, taste, smell
- Use adjectives and ambitious vocabulary
- If possible, use techniques like alliteration and similes
 Use the space below to answer a creative writing exercise. Fill all of the space!

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Poetry revision
 Read over the following poems in your Fire & Ice book:

Pick one poem and answer the following questions in your copy:

 What is the theme of the poem?

 Describe one key image from the poem
 Pick out three key lines from the poem that you think you could memorise for
quoting in the exam
 Explain each quote in your own words. What does it mean? Why is it important to
the overall poem?
 What poetic devices are used in the poem? Is there alliteration, assonance etc.?
If you can’t find any this is a problem – pick a different poem! You should be able to
identify at least 3
 What impact do these poetic devices have on the reader? How do they make you
feel when you listen the poem or what do they help you to imagine?
 Give your personal opinion of the poem – do you like or dislike the poem? Explain
your answer.

When writing about your chosen poem you should be able to do the following in the exam:

 Write at least 1 A4 page about your chosen poem

 Be able to identify 3 poetic devices e.g. imagery, assonance
 Include at least 3 quotes – you will need to spend time picking your quotes & learning them
off by heart
 Remember the name of the poet!

Use all of the space below for you answers:

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