Pizza and Pages Book Club: Week 4
A Book Discussion Project by Ryann Uden for LIS404LE, Spring 2005
When No One Was Looking by Rosemary Wells
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Kathy is a fourteen year-old girl who only recently discovered she has a talent for tennis. Her family sacrifices everything so she can pursue their dream of seeing her become a tennis champion. Unfortunately, even with all of Kathy's talent, sometimes her emotions get the best of her and she loses her temper and usually the match as well. One particular player, Ruth, knows exactly how use Kathy's temper against her, and before a big tournament match Ruth drowns in the club pool. The police start investigating and they suspect Kathy or someone close to her was responsible. Kathy says she didn't do it, but she cannot prove where she was during the time in question. They are investigating her family, friends, and coach. Kathy is unsettled as she realizes that someone she loved might have done something to Ruth for her, and that some of these same people might actually believed that she did the crime. Everyone around her supports her career, even the school superintendent who intentionally leaves her alone with the answers to her algebra final.
Eventually, Kathy is able to prove her own innocence, but by then the case has been closed and the accident blamed on a pool malfunction. However, just when Kathy's problems seem to be solved, she discovers that her best friend is responsible for the accident that killed Ruth. As the story ends, Kathy is faced with the biggest decision of her life. This suspenseful and though provoking book won the Edgar Allan Poe Award and was named an ALA and SLJ Best Book for Young Adults.
1. What do you think the title of this story means? (Morals are how you act "When No One Was Looking")
2. How does tennis change the friendship between Julia and Kathy?
3. At the beginning of the story, we see Kathy lying to her parents in order to get them to allow Oliver over for dinner. Then, the next day, she brings up his visit to her match at just the right time so her parents won't start an argument before her game. What do you think about this behavior? What does it say about Kathy and her parents? (p. 24)
4. Right and wrong are sometimes unclear in certain situations. Should Kathy have paid Ruth's fee during that first match?
5. Why do you think Kathy has such a hard time in math? Do you believe her when she tells Mrs. Diggins that she would never cheat in a tournament? (p. 48)
6. Who are the suspects in Ruth's murder and what are their motives? Why doesn't anyone think of Julia?
7. Do you think Marty is right that you cannot be nice and competitive and a winner? What if you have to play your friends a lot?
8. "Your
Dad and I haven't spent God knows how much on this tennis game of yours
for the sheer fun of it alone. You have an obligation here, and
you are going to practice. All right?" (p. 77) What do
you think of this attitude?
9. What do you think was different about the tournament in
Florida?
10. What do you think Kathy's dream is? What would make her happy?
11. Do you like Kathy? Did your feelings about her change as you read the book?
12. Which adults in Kathy's life can she trust? Who do you think believed that Kathy did not have something to do with Ruth's drowning? How do you think she felt knowing that?
13. Quote question: "Why don't I cheat on this? Kathy asked herself as she ran down the beach. Why do I cheat on a math test, and then when I'm so exhausted I could drop dead, I still do a stupid mile just because she tells me to? She's in her office. She'll never see me." (p. 158). Why do you think she does this?
14. What is Jody's role in the story and in Kathy's life? Kathy says she's "very moral." Any thoughts?
15. At what points in the story does Kathy do the "right" thing, in your opinion? Why do you think she doesn't tell her family about what she remembers from the game?
16. What do you think will happen next in this story? (Tennis, Julia, etc.)
Bibliography:
Well, Rosemary. (1980). When No One Was Looking. Puffin
Books: New York, NY.