HIT: First Lines/Openings

[Kathleen Foulke <epgst022@LLWSBE.WSBE.ORG>]

Dear LM_NET'ters,
        More than a month ago I asked for suggestions of books with great
first lines/openings. I got some wonderful, helpful responses.  Since I haven't 
asked
permission to include names, I hope those who shared their knowledge and ideas will
forgive me for their anonymity here. A great big THANKS to all who replied. I'm
looking forward to doing something with this.
        Two respondents suggested checking Cricket magazine, which I did,
through Middle Search for the last five years. As they had said, there is/was a 
feature,
"Favorite First Lines," based on readers' contributions. I found this is the
following issues: November '91, February and June '92, January '93, September and
December '94, March and June '95.
        One person suggested that we should do this for the kids only as a
first step, with Step 2 requiring them to bring in their own candidates for best 
first
lines and essentially book talk these to their peers. One LM_NETter described an
acitivity she does called "hooks," which focuses on first lines with a particular
theme or focus:
        TIME "It was a dark and stormy night" Wrinkle in Time
        Question or riddle: " "Would Gracie the cat be jealous if the Pyes
got another pet--a dog?" Ginger Pye
        Quotation: ""Where's Papa going with that axe?' said Fern to her
mother..." Charoltte's Web
        Command: "Imagine a tropical forest so vast you can roam in it all
your life wiothout ever finding there was anything else" A Stranger at
Green Knowe
        Character description: "He was a giant of his kind: he had been
the biggest of his litter and had stayed much larger than the other
wolves" Wolf of Shadows
        Startling fact: "I am afraid" Z for Zachariah
        Summary of a key idea: "The Pushcart war started on the afternoon
of March 15, 1976, when a truck ran down a pushcart belonging to a flower
peddlar" The Pushcart War
        Definition: "The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its
peak a mile above the storm-wracked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for
wizards." A Wizard of Earthsea
        Action:"They were fighting again" Building Blocks
        Description of a Place: "The first meadow I can well remember was a
large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it" Black Beauty

        Here are other titles that were recommended:

        Wolf Rider; True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (two people
suggested this) - Avi
        Charlotte's Web: "'Where's Papa going with that ax?' cried Fern."
        Mick Harte Was Here - Barbara Park
        Jennifer Murdley's Toad - Bruce Coville (quote approximate because
the book wasn't in hand): "If Jennifer Murdley hadn't been forced to wear her 
brothers
underwear to school that day, the whole thing might never have happened."
        The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (three people offered this): "The
Herdmans were the worst kids in the history of the world."
        Freaky Friday - Mary Rodgers
        Tuck Everlasting - Natalie Babbitt (opening paragraph)
        Nightmare Mountain - Kehret
        Three Terrible Trins - Dick King-Smith: "At six o'clock on the
morning of her birthday, Mrs. Gray's husband was killed and eaten. It was her first 
birthday,
and he was her third husband."
        I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith (probably): "I write this sitting
in the kitchen sink."


Recommended author for good first lines/paragraphs:
        Betsy Byars
        Walt Morey

    Thanks again to all you great colleagues who responded.

     Kathy



--
Kathy Foulke<epgst022@llwsbe.wsbe.org>
Gordon School
East Providence, RI 02914
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 08:40:00 -0500
From: Christine Durling <librarian@BORDENTOWN.K12.NJ.US>
Subject: Internet permission slips

I am looking for suggestions on putting together a generic permission slip
for students who are involved in using the internet for classroom
assignments.  My main goal is to insure that students are not using the
internet to share personal information with keypals, etc.