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Restart · Garden Heights
Part 8
for Restart · Part 8 · Chapters 28–30
8 Parts40 min
What Happens in Part 8
Chase returns the medal, confesses everything, and a courtroom full of unexpected allies gives him his restart.
Brawl in the HallwayShoshanna arrives at the residence carrying guilt: she has seen both good and bad in Chase, and some of her cruel words can never be unsaid. She, Joel, Brendan, and Kimberly are in Mr. Solway's room when Chase sprints past pushing a vacuum cleaner. Aaron yanks the vacuum's cord, Bear piles on, outmatched Brendan joins the fight, Mr. Solway wades in with his wheelchair, and Joel — smartest of all — runs for Nurse Duncan and security.
The Whole TruthWhen the scuffle is pulled apart, Chase opens the vacuum's dust bag and takes out the Medal of Honor. He tells the man he wronged the whole truth — he stole it before his accident — and insists he acted completely alone, refusing to drag Aaron and Bear down with him. Nurse Duncan calls the police, and Chase waits in remorse, sure the town will attend his juvenile-court hearing to watch his downfall.
Witnesses for ChaseInstead, witnesses stand up for him at the juvenile-court hearing: his mother; his father Frank, admitting he is proud of who his son is becoming; the doctor explaining how the injury could change a personality; and Shoshanna, testifying she believes in who Chase is turning into. Asked to promise never to become his old self, Chase refuses to lie — false certainty is what the old Chase would do.
Lent, Not StolenThen Mr. Solway appears wearing the medal: no theft happened — he lent it to the boy. The judge doubts it but dismisses the case, warning Chase not to prove him wrong. Brendan films the new normal — Chase back on the football field, the video club the team's official videographers, Joel leading the pep band, Kimberly seeing Brendan at last — and the Solway documentary wins the National Video Journalism Contest. A restart is a promise you keep proving.
What We Will Learn
Section
What you will practice
Vocabulary
The language of owning it and making it right: restitution, amends, accountable, remorse, reckoning…
Literary Elements
Resolution that lands every narrator, a medal working overtime as a symbol, and a character arc that ends in a daily choice instead of an accident
Cross-Curricular
Restorative justice — how schools and courts try to repair harm instead of only punishing it, and why facing the person you hurt is the hardest sentence of all
Chapter Summary
Ch.
What happens
Chapter 28
Narrated by Shoshanna Weber — A hallway chase at the residence ends with Aaron and Bear attacking Chase, Brendan and Mr. Solway — wheelchair and all — joining the fight, and Joel fetching Nurse Duncan and security. Chase pulls the Medal of Honor out of the vacuum’s dust bag, confesses that he stole it before his accident, and insists he acted alone. The nurse calls the police.
Chapter 29
Narrated by Chase Ambrose — At his juvenile-court hearing, Chase discovers the crowded room came to support him, not to bury him. His parents, his doctor, and even Shoshanna testify; asked to promise he will never slip back, he chooses honesty over a comfortable lie. Then Mr. Solway arrives wearing the medal and tells the court it was only lent — and the case is dismissed with a warning.
Chapter 30
Narrated by Brendan Espinoza — The new normal: Chase plays football and stays in the video club, the coach makes the club the team’s official videographers, Joel leads the pep band, and the documentary about Mr. Solway wins the National Video Journalism Contest. The restart is no longer an accident — it is a choice everyone can see.
Part 1
Vocabulary
Study 10 key words from Chapters 28–30, then answer each question.
⚖Knowledge Bank · The Law of Saying Sorry
Law · Apology LawsFor most of American legal history, lawyers gave one loud piece of advice: never apologize, because in a courtroom the words could be read as a confession of fault. The result was strange and cruel — the moment people most needed to hear “I’m sorry,” the person who owed it went silent. Starting with Massachusetts in 1986, most U.S. states passed so-called apology laws, which shield certain expressions of sympathy from being used as evidence. The best-known versions cover medicine: a doctor can tell a family about an error and express real regret without those words alone deciding a lawsuit. Hospitals that adopted honesty-and-apology programs found something lawyers did not predict — open admissions often led to fewer lawsuits, not more, because families mostly wanted the truth and proof it would not happen again. The lesson runs straight through this part of the novel: words alone are cheap, but a real apology is the doorway to amends.
culpritn.Ch.28
The person who is guilty of a crime or offense
“Chase names himself as the only culprit, though he was not alone.”
reckoningn.Ch.28
A moment when someone must finally face the results of their actions
“The medal’s reappearance brings a reckoning nobody can postpone.”
restitutionn.Ch.28
Giving back what was taken, or paying for the harm done
“Bringing the medal back is the restitution old Chase never offered.”
irreversibleadj.Ch.28
Impossible to undo or change back
“Shoshanna fears that her cruelest words may be irreversible.”
remorsen.Ch.29
Deep, painful regret for a wrong you have done
“Waiting for his hearing, Chase is nearly swallowed by remorse.”
accountableadj.Ch.29
Required to accept responsibility for what you have done
“Chase decides to be accountable for acts he cannot even remember.”
amendsn.Ch.29
Something done to make up for a wrong or an injury
“Owning the truth in front of everyone is the start of his amends.”
sincereadj.Ch.29
Honest and genuine; free of pretending
“The courtroom can tell his refusal to overpromise is sincere.”
verdictn.Ch.29
A judgment or decision about someone, as if from a court
“Mr. Solway’s real verdict is about the boy, not the medal.”
legacyn.Ch.30
What a person leaves behind for others to remember or inherit
“The winning documentary protects a legacy that a medal alone never could.”
ⓘ The vocabulary words in this list are selected to help you understand and complete this workbook. Some may not appear verbatim in the original novel.
🧠Knowledge Bank question
1The Knowledge Bank calls a real apology the doorway to amends — yet for most of American legal history, lawyers said never apologize, because ___.Ch.28
2A ‘reckoning’ is a moment when someone must finally face the results of their actions.Ch.28
3Someone who feels ‘remorse’ feels ___.Ch.29
4To be held ‘accountable’ is to be ___.Ch.29
5Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.29
Word choices:amendsrestitutionverdictculprit- some words will not be used
Owning the truth in front of everyone is the start of his .
Returning what was taken is a form of .
6A ‘sincere’ apology is one that is acted out to impress an audience.Ch.29
7A ‘verdict’ is best described as ___.Ch.29
8A person’s ‘legacy’ is what they leave behind for others.Ch.30
9Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.28
Word choices:irreversiblelegacyremorsesincere- some words will not be used
The film protects a that a medal alone never could.
She fears her cruelest words may be .
10Something ‘irreversible’ ___.Ch.28
Part 2
Comprehension
Show you understood what happens in Chapters 28–30.
🏛Knowledge Bank · The Court With a Restart Button
Civics · Juvenile JusticeAmerican law treats young offenders differently on purpose. The first juvenile court opened in Chicago in 1899, built on the idea that a growing person should be rehabilitated — guided back on track — rather than simply punished as a small adult. That is why juvenile proceedings are usually closed to the public, why many verdicts are called adjudications instead of convictions, and why a juvenile record can often be sealed or expunged — legally erased — once the person grows up and stays out of trouble. Courts can also order community service, the penalty at the center of this novel, which is meant to repay a debt to the town rather than to a prison. The system draws hard lines, though: a serious or violent offense can move a teenager into adult court, where none of these protections apply. The law, in other words, offers the young exactly what this book’s title offers Chase — one guarded, conditional chance at a genuine restart.
🧠Knowledge Bank question
1According to the Knowledge Bank, the first juvenile court was built on the idea that a young offender should be ___.Ch.28
2Where is the medal hidden during the hallway chase?Ch.28
3Chase uses his amnesia as an excuse to deny what his old self did.Ch.28
4What does Mr. Solway tell the court about the medal?Ch.29
5Write the numbers 1–5 in the boxes to show the correct order of events. Number 1 = what happens first.Chapters 28–30
Mr. Solway testifies the medal was only lent, and the case is dismissed.
Chase confesses the theft and insists that he acted completely alone.
Nurse Duncan calls the police, and Chase must face juvenile court.
The documentary about Mr. Solway wins the National Video Journalism Contest.
Chase races down the hallway with the medal hidden in a vacuum cleaner.
6Mr. Solway joins the scuffle himself, using his wheelchair.Ch.28
7Why does the judge dismiss the case against Chase?Ch.29
8Asked to promise he will never become his old self again, Chase ___.Ch.29
9The video club’s documentary about Mr. Solway loses the national contest.Ch.30
10What does Chase’s life look like in the final chapter?Ch.30
Part 3
Literary Elements
Understanding HOW and WHY Gordon Korman tells the story across Chapters 28–30.
🎤Knowledge Bank · Landing Ten Voices at Once
Craft · Multiple NarratorsA novel told by rotating first-person narrators makes a promise it must keep: every voice that takes the microphone deserves a real ending. Gordon Korman (author) builds the book like a relay, and no single character — not even Chase — ever holds the whole truth; the reader alone assembles it from overlapping, sometimes contradicting accounts. That structure creates constant dramatic irony: we know what Shoshanna suspects, what Aaron hides, and what Chase cannot remember, long before any of them compare notes. Watch the craft choice at the finish: the courtroom climax belongs to Chase, but the author hands the final chapter to Brendan Espinoza — once the bullies’ favorite target. A changed person can claim anything about himself; the claim only becomes believable when a witness confirms it. By ending through Brendan’s camera-loving eyes, the book lets Chase’s transformation be verified the way courts verify everything — through another voice.
Resolution
The final chapters must land every one of the book’s rotating narrators — each voice gets an ending that answers the question it kept asking.
Symbol
The medal carries the whole book’s argument: what honor is, who deserves it, and whether it can be given, stolen, hidden — or earned back.
Character Arc
Chase’s arc ends not with his memory magically restored but with a choice he must renew daily — and refuses to fake certainty about.
🧠Knowledge Bank question
1The Knowledge Bank explains that Gordon Korman (author) hands the final chapter to Brendan because a changed person's claim ___.Ch.30
2Throughout Part 8, the medal works mainly as a ___.Ch.28
3A character arc traces how a character changes across a story.Ch.30
4Mr. Solway telling the court the medal was only lent functions as a ___.Ch.29
5Because the narrators rotate, a single character can see the full truth of events.Ch.28
6Fill in each blank with the correct literary term.Ch.29
Word choices:symbolresolutionflashbacksetting- some words will not be used
The medal standing for honor itself makes it a .
Landing every narrator’s story is the job of the .
7Gordon Korman (author) gives the last chapter to Brendan, a former target, mainly to ___.Ch.30
8Dramatic irony occurs when the reader knows something the characters do not.Ch.28
9Chase walking into court expecting scorn and finding a room full of supporters is best described as ___.Ch.29
10Fill in each blank with the correct literary term.Ch.30
Word choices:arcironyglossarypreface- some words will not be used
Chase committing daily to his new self completes his character .
A thief being rescued by the man he robbed is situational .
Part 4
Think Deeper
Four deeper challenges — no single-word recall. Read, weigh the evidence, and reason it out.
🧠Knowledge Bank · Repair or Punish?
Philosophy · Personal IdentityFor most of legal history, a wrong was answered with one question: what does the wrongdoer deserve? That approach — scholars call it retributive justice — measures out punishment to fit the offense, and it treats the person who was harmed mainly as a witness. A different tradition asks a second question: what does the harmed person need? Answering it usually requires the wrongdoer to hear, face to face, exactly what the harm cost, and then to carry out concrete repair — returning what was taken, fixing what was broken, giving back time or money or labor. Studies of juvenile courts find that offenders who complete this kind of agreement are less likely to offend again than those who are only punished, partly because facing a real person makes the harm impossible to wave away as a rule broken on paper. The two approaches are not enemies; most systems mix them. But they aim at different targets: one balances a ledger of deserving, the other closes a wound — and a community usually heals faster around the second kind of justice.
Every secret in this book has a return address, and in the last three chapters they all come home at once. A stolen medal comes down a nursing-home hallway hidden inside a roaring vacuum cleaner, with two furious ex-friends in pursuit. The truth about what old Chase did finally gets said out loud — and the person who says it, with no lawyer softening the words, is Chase himself. Then comes the courtroom, where he expects to see a town gathered to watch him fall and slowly realizes it has gathered to hold him up. The last voice he expects to hear speaks last: an old soldier wearing a medal everyone believed was gone, telling a story that changes everything — if the judge decides to believe it. Part 8 is where every narrator lands, where Mr. Solway delivers his verdict on who Chase Ambrose really is, and where the word ‘restart’ finally means something you choose every day rather than something a falling body does to you.
Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.
1Claim: “Part 8 argues that a restart must be claimed through choices, not simply granted by an accident.” — choose the two details that best prove it.Claim & Evidence
2Repairs the harm, or Only punishes? Tap each detail to send it left or right.Sort into two
◄ Repairs the harmOnly punishes ►
3Match each cause to its result. For each cause, pick its result.Cause & Effect
Chase confesses and claims he acted entirely alone→
A courtroom fills with teachers, players, and the Webers→
Mr. Solway testifies that the medal was only lent→
Chase and Shoshanna’s documentary is submitted→
🧠Knowledge Bank question
4Fill both blanks to complete the reasoning.Build the Argument
Offenders who complete face-to-face repair reoffend less often, partly because , which shows that the two traditions .
Part 5
Standardized Test
Making It Right · Reading & Vocabulary · SAT & TOEFL-style practice
Read the passage — the highlighted words are tested — then answer. Tap an answer, then tap it again to confirm.
SATCentral Ideas — the passage's main point
SATInference — a conclusion the passage implies
SATWords in Context — a word's meaning in this passage
SATAuthor’s Purpose — what the author wants to achieve
TOEFLFactual Information — a fact stated in the passage
TOEFLInsert Text — where a sentence best fits
TOEFLVocabulary — a tested word's meaning here
Making It Right
When a student breaks something at school — a window, a rule, another person's trust — the usual machinery asks three questions: what rule was broken, who did it, and what punishment fits. Restorative justice asks three different questions: who was harmed, what does that person need, and whose job is it to meet that need. The difference sounds small, but it moves the harmed person to the center of the process. Punishment can end a case while leaving the actual damage — the fear, the loss, the broken trust — untouched.
The heart of the approach is a structured meeting, guided by a trained facilitator — a neutral person who keeps the conversation safe and honest. The person who caused the harm must sit across from the person who suffered it, listen to the damage described firsthand, and answer questions truthfully, with no excuses. Together the group writes an agreement: a sincere apology — honestly meant — restitution for what was taken or broken, service, changed behavior. Students who have been through both say facing the person they hurt is far harder than any detention, because being held accountable in person leaves nowhere to hide.
Schools now use restorative circles instead of automatic suspensions, and juvenile courts use them to steer first-time offenders away from formal charges. Research finds harmed people report more satisfaction than courtrooms typically give, and those who complete the process are often less likely to offend again. The approach has real limits, though: it works only when the offender feels genuine remorse for the harm he caused, a harmed person must never be pressured to participate, and serious violence still belongs in court. Restorative justice does not replace consequences — it insists that the most meaningful consequence is making amends.
Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.
1What is the main idea of the passage?SAT · Central Ideas
2According to the passage, restorative justice asks which question?TOEFL · Factual Information
3The passage suggests that ordinary punishment can fail because it ___.SAT · Inference
4According to the passage, what must the offender do in the meeting?TOEFL · Factual Information
5Insert Text (TOEFL). Look at the four squares [1]–[4] in the excerpt below. They show where this sentence could be added: “That follow-up is what separates a genuine repair from an easy apology.”
A restorative conference ends with a written agreement, not a verdict. [1] The agreement lists exactly what the offender will do to mend the harm. [2] Weeks later, the facilitator checks that every promise has actually been kept. [3] Only then is the case considered closed. [4]
Where would the sentence fit best?TOEFL · Insert Text
6In the passage, sincere most nearly means ___.SAT · Words in Context
7In the passage, remorse most nearly means ___.TOEFL · Vocabulary
8In the passage, amends most nearly means ___.SAT · Words in Context
9The passage implies that a restorative conference would be inappropriate when ___.SAT · Inference
10Why does the author include what students say about facing the person they hurt?SAT · Author’s Purpose
Part 6 · Optional
Creative Writing
A bonus challenge to practice your English. Take your time and have fun with it.
About This Section
This writing task is optional and is not part of your auto-graded score. The feedback below checks only the basics — length, spelling, and grammar — not whether your ideas are right or wrong. It is meant for classroom discussion and creative practice, so feel free to use your imagination!
Writing Task — Part 8 “The Restart You Choose”
Chase gets his restart from a fall off a roof — but keeps it only by choosing it, day after day. Imagine you could restart one habit, one friendship, or one reputation of your own. What would you restart, what would you have to own up to first, and what would you do differently on day one? 6–10 sentences. End by explaining why a restart only works if you keep choosing it.
You can start with: “If I could press restart on one thing, I already know what it would be...”
0 / 40 words minimum
🗣 Teach It · Just for Fun (optional)
No right or wrong — tell someone nearby what happened in this part. Can’t find anyone? Tell yourself out loud. The moment you teach it, you truly understand it.
Part 8 Complete — You Finished the Book! 🎉
You finished Chapters 28–30 — the final part of Restart.
Independent study guide by Garden Heights. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Gordon Korman. Contains original analysis only; no text from the novel is reproduced. Reference text: This workbook follows Gordon Korman’s classic text (the standard Puffin edition sold worldwide). Revised 2023 UK editions change some wording and may not match the vocabulary studied here.
