How do you choose a book to read? Do you read the blurb, the first page, the last page or do you simply like the look of the cover?
The First Sentence of a Book
For most readers, the beginning of a book is the crux of the matter. The first few lines are all important, either grabbing the reader or making him close the book. Some opening lines are memorable.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
In Jane Austen's opening lines to Pride and Prejudice, she gives us the theme of the book and her approach to it. Her tongue is very firmly in her cheek.
As with adult books, so with children's stories. In fact, even more so. Children's books are up against the attractions of computers and the Internet, hundreds of TV channels and Xboxes. So the writer must proffer a juicy piece of bait to hook the reader in and make him read on.
Children's Books; the Opening Lines
How many children's books can you identify from their opening lines? Try this short quiz to see how some of the classic children's writers do it.
- 'Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,' grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
- All children except one, grow up.
- 'Tom!' No answer. 'Tom!' No answer.
- The mole had been working very hard all morning, spring cleaning his little home.
- Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do
- Marley was dead: to begin with.
Answers are at the foot of the page.
And perhaps here's how not to do it from someone regarded as one of the finest writers of his day, Sir Walter Scott opening his novel, Ivanhoe:
In that pleasant district of merry England which is watered by the river Don, there extended in ancient times a large forest covering the greater part of the beautiful hills and valleys which lie between Sheffield and the pleasant town of Doncaster.....
The Way to Write for Children
Joan Aiken, in her book The Way to Write for Children, says;
Such a sentence makes you hear the sound of books slapping shut all over the library.
She goes on to say;
If you can startle the readers with your opening, do that too.
Modern writers know this too. In More First Lines, see how some of today's writers encourage children to read on.
Answers:
- Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
- Peter Pan, JM Barrie
- Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
- The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
- Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
- A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
Joan Aitken, The Way to Write for Children Elm Tree Books1982 ISBN 0 241 10746 6RES101
Ann Burnett - Ann Burnett is an experienced writer of children's stories and scripts, short stories and articles, and comedy.
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