No Regrets by Krista Bell

Format: Novel

Extent: 192 pp

Overview

This novel tells the story of Julia and the difficulties she faces being a gifted and talented student who is accelerated to secondary school even though she is barely twelve years old.

The story follows her fortunes and is told by Krista Bell in a manner that will particularly appeal to upper primary students.

The reader sees the way in which other students tease and bully someone who is different. It is on the school’s music group visit to Tasmania to perform in the National Music Festival that a greater understanding and tolerance finally comes about.

Through a series of events that unfold, the reader is able to comprehend something of the behaviour of others. By the conclusion of the novel much has changed.

Many issues are covered in No Regrets, but they come up as a natural part of the story and as such, much is learned in the course of the novel. Some of these are: the importance of friends, family and good teachers; multiple sclerosis; bullying; gifted and talented students; and many other things that will be of interest to children at this level.

Author profile

Krista Bell is a full-time writer of books for young people and she lives in Glen Iris, Victoria, with her husband and three boys. She travels around Australia giving writing workshops at schools and libraries. Krista has reviewed books on ABC radio and in print, run literary weekends and written for literary journals. She is the author of Read My Mind! and Get a Life!. No Regrets is her thirteenth book.

Find out more about Krista Bell at her website

Assessment checklist

After reading No Regrets by Krista Bell and completing the activities, students will gain the skills to:

  • engage with challenging themes and concepts
  • discuss themes and issues
  • draw up and interpret characters
  • learn independently
  • recognise figurative language such as similes and metaphors
  • use research skills – both electronic and library-based
  • connect with personal experiences
  • recognise the use of specific language for different purposes

Activities

Small-group activities

  1. Krista Bell uses lots of similes to provide vivid word pictures for the reader:
  • like crazed cicadas (8)
  • like an aerodynamically designed machine (19)
  • like a manic windmill (66)
  • like a thunderstorm on a tin roof (88)

Find more examples from the story. Write some sentences of your own that include similes.

  1. ‘No one spoke for a moment or two as they absorbed the impact of what had just occurred.’ (98)
  2. Outline what this is referring to and its significance.
  3. What happened to cause Julia to return home?
  4. How does the book get its title?
  5. From the novel, compile a list of examples of responsible behaviour.

Whole-class activities

  1. As a class, discuss the following issues:
  • teenage drinking
  • bullying and the strategies for combating it
  • transition from primary to secondary school
  • gifted and talented students and the pros and cons of accelerating them
  • being different
  • friends
  • family
  • teachers
  • taking responsibility for your own life
  • having a positive attitude
  1. What is a domino effect? (59)
  2. What is the definition of an accident? (61)

Individual activities

Characters

  1. Do a pen portrait (a picture using words) of as many aspects of Julia as you can, telling what she is like as a person and what motivates her.
  2. List the ways Julia copes with her experiences and what indicates that she has maturity and talent beyond her years.
  3. Describe Xanthe, covering what she looks like, her interests, nature and concerns as well as her background. What is her role in the story?

Vocabulary and language

  1. Use the following words in sentences that show you understand their meaning:
  2. chaperones (36), audible (37), miffed (39), menial (39), prestigious (41), sarcastic (43), tardy (43), blatantly (43) protracted (44), cynical (50), laissez-faire (50), ostracised (52), retorted (54), virtuoso (126), uncouth (146), insidious (150), prognosis (150) manoeuvres (155), besotted (85, 97).
  3. Using sentences, explain the difference between the following words:
  4. practice (83)/practise (107); bought (116)/brought; it’s (120)/its; effect/affect (150).
  5. Find out the meaning of: compliment/complement.
  6. From the novel, jot down typical expressions of: children at school, teachers, and parents.

Writing

  1. Write a paragraph about some of the problems Julia faces at high school. Talk about her dilemmas and feelings.
  2. Choose one episode from No Regrets and retell it in your own words.
  3. Make a list of some of the things you have learned from reading No Regrets by Krista Bell.
  4. While reading this novel were there incidents or experiences that you could identify with or that were familiar to you? Jot some of these down.
  5. Write about the incident that led to Julia and Felix being in the Grand Chancellor Hotel together.
  6. Your friend has left to go to another state. You enjoyed sharing good books. Write an email to your friend telling them the plot of the novel No Regrets by Krista Bell that you have just finished reading.
  7. Write a book review of No Regrets and comment on the way the story finishes.
  8. The following quotations have a bearing on important issues from the story:
    ‘So much has changed because of Hobart …’ (172)
    ‘… apart from the obvious, we have so much to celebrate.’ (186)

Write about these comments indicating why they are significant to the story as a whole.

Research

Using the library and the Internet, find out more about:

  • the Aztecs (49)
  • the famed Federation Concert Hall in Hobart (47)
  • Chauncy Vale (155–6)
  • Lady Jane Franklin (86)
  • multiple sclerosis (142-3 & 149)