"First Line" Answers and More First-Lines-of-Famous-Books to Scratch Your Head Over by Sue Berger

Here are the answers to last weeks first lines and a new group of first lines. As usual, there is one ringer. Please enjoy these lines. Which ones did you know? Which ones inspire you to read more?

Last week’s First lines

Once on a dark winter's day, when the yellow fog hung so thick and heavy in the streets of London that the lamps were lighted and the shop windows blazed with gas as they do at night, an odd-looking little girl sat in a cab with her father and was driven rather slowly through the big thoroughfares.  A Little Princess. Frances Hodgson Burnett

The galaxy is an awfully big place so I don't expect you to know about my home world, Harmony; but my ancestors came from Earth. Sweetwater Lawrence Yep

Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.   Winnie The Pooh A.A Milne

It was a clear sparkling winter’s day.

The Magic Snowman  Catherine Walters Illustrated by Allison Edgson

Sylvester lived with his mother and father at Acorn Avenue in Oatsdale.  One of his hobbies was collecting pebbles of unusual shape and color.

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble  written and illustrated by William Steig

David’s Mom always said…”No David.”

No David  written and illustrated by David Shannon

The principal's office was becoming way too familiar. Tasha rubbed her sore knuckles and wished she was invisible. Tasha the Magnificent  Susan Berger

In the biggest, brownest muddiest river in all Africa, two crocodiles lay with their heads just above the water. One of the crocodiles was enormous. The other was not so big.

The Enormous Crocodile. Roald Dahl Illustrated by Quentin Blake.

Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents.

Little Women Louisa May Alcott

“There are dragons in the twin’s vegetable garden.” Meg Murray took her head out of the refrigerator where she had been foraging for an after-school snack, and looked at her six-year-old brother.  “What?”

A Wind in the Door  Madeline L’Engle

Are you there God? It’s me Margaret. We’re moving today. I’m so scared God. I’ve never lived anywhere but here. Suppose I hate my new school? Suppose everyone there hates me? Please help me God. Don’t let New Jersey be too horrible. Thank you.

Are you there God? It’s me Margaret Judy Blume

                                         New First Lines               

1. It was not that Omri did not appreciate Patrick’s birthday present to him. Far from it.  He was really very grateful - sort of.  It was, without a doubt, very kind of Patrick to give Omri anything at all, let alone a second hand plastic Indian that he himself had finished with.

2.  Alexander Brand was a secret agent.  He had saved the world on more than a dozen occasions.

3.  In the ancient city of London, on a certain autumn day in the second quarter of the sixteenth century, a boy was born to a poor family of the name of Canty, who did not want him. On the same day another English child was born to a rich family of the name of Tudor, who did want him. All England wanted him too.

4.  On Monday in math class, Mrs. Fibonocci says, “You know, you can think of almost everything as a math problem.”

5.  Prologue: The night was cold and dead and so felt Clarence’s heart.

Chapter one first line: Hanging outside the gates of the city of Dunce was a sign that read

No gnomes

No mages

Etcetera

     6.  I live in a yellow house surrounded by a white picket fence. The enormous elm tree in front of my house has birds chirping away in it. As I sit quietly by my dormer window at my antique wood desk, I see two squirrels chase each other in the front lawn. I smile. The garbage man waves at me. I wave back. I have a Size 0 body and perfectly applied make-up. My sister comes in and gives me a hug.

Yeah, right! In your dreams.

     7.  Mr. Piggott lived with his two sons, Simon and Patrick, in a nice house with a nice garden, and a nice car in the nice garage. Inside the house was his wife.

     8.  I’d never given much thought to how I would die –though I’d had reason enough in the last few months-but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this.

     9.  The morning the rainbow came, Genevieve's sheep were still white. Or rather grey and dirty brown as sheep tend to be.

     10  In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines