Best Opening Lines

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

"The Thief" made a list of 16 best opening lines in childrens books!

The whole list is here:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/harpercollins/16-of-the-best-opening-lines-from-childrens-books-9npd

Comments

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

A good list with one exception: the opening line of Bridge to Terabithia, which I think is just awful-slash-stupid.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I thought that too. Which is a pity, because it's such a classic book -- but sometimes the first line in isolation is just not the right thing to sell people on a story.

[agentmaly.livejournal.com]

In fact I think it's rarely the case that the first line is appropriate to sell people on a story, because it gains its gravity in context. I read that list thinking that a lot of them were silly, and that the first line from The Thief wasn't even particularly gripping - because independent of what happens after, it's a fairly ordinary sentence. It's me knowing what the first lines mean that makes them exciting, which I'm not sure the list-makers took into account.

But it's nice to see The Thief show up anyway. :)

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

By context, do you mean what comes immediately after, or do you mean upon knowing the whole story? I tend to judge first lines based on how they do on a first reading, when you know absolutely nothing about what comes next. I think the first line of The Thief is pretty gripping on its own, because it immediately establishes a scenario and raises a bunch of questions (why is he in the king's prison, and why can't he remember how long it's been? etc.), but those questions are not as interesting on a re-read.

I always put the opening of The Thief AND the opening of True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle on any list of good first lines I make, so I was very pleased to see someone else thought of them too!

But like I said, I tend to judge them based on first impressions. I expect there are some first lines that become more resonant in light of the rest of the story. I shall have to look for some like that...

:)

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

I obviously think The Thief belongs on any list of best first lines. I actually put it on mine when I made one a couple years ago. But I feel the need to point out that all those books are published by Harper Collins. I think they may have made the list, which is why some of the more questionable ones like Bridge to Terabithia and that new Amelia Bedelia got on there. And how the first line to Holes, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, etc. didn't.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Verrrrry interesting.

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

That's a very good point.... hm.

I have always considered the opening of THe Thief and also of True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle to be absolutely great, very catching first lines. But some of those others were definitely padding.

Harry Potter's is an obvious one, it should be on there.

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of a discussion that was had a while ago. I posted asking people for their favourite first lines... Re-reading it now, I realize how many of those books I still want to read! So many of the first lines are great, and reading them out of context (no cover, no genre, no title even) makes them very fresh.

http://sounis.livejournal.com/286876.html

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Very cool! To the list I would add the first line in Geraldine McCaughrean's wonderful book The Death-Defying Pepper Roux:

“On the morning of his fourteenth birthday, Pepper had been awake for fully two minutes before realizing it was the day he must die”.