First Lines

ANSWERS

"Just let me say right off the bat, it was a bike accident. It was about as 'accidental' as you can get, too."

Mick Harte Was Here

"Mrs. Gorf had a long tongue and pointed ears. She was the meanest teacher in the school. She taught the class on the thirtieth story. ' If you children are bad,' she warned, 'or if you answer a problem wrong, I'll  wiggle my ears, stick out my tongue, and turn you into apples!' Mrs. Gorf didn't like children, but she loved apples!"

Sideway Stories from Wayside School

"Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were

sent away from London during the war because of air raids."

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

"There is no lake at Camp Green Lake . There was once a very large lake here, the largest lake in Texas . That was over a hundred years ago. Now it is just a dry, flat wasteland."

Holes

The villages of Little Hangleton still called it 'The Riddle House' even though it had been many years since the Riddle family had lived there

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Meet George Beard and Harold Hutchins. George is the kid on the left with the tie and the flat-top. Harold is the one on the right with the T-shirt and the bad haircut. Remember that now .

Adventures of Captain Underpants

"Cole Matthews knelt defiantly in the bow of the aluminum skiff as he faced forward into a cold September wind. Worn steel handcuffs bit at his wrists each time the small craft slapped into another wave. Overhead, a gray-matted sky hung like a bad omen. Cole strained at the cuffs even

though he had agreed to wear them until he was freed on the island to begin his banishment."

Touching Spirit Bear

"I am on my mountain in a tree home that people have passed without ever knowing that I am here."

My Side of the Mountain

"Fingers trembling, eyes on the man at the cash register, Mongoose snatched the Milky Way bar and stuck it in his coat pocket. He waited for lightning to strike. For the hand of God to frizzle him on the spot. The earth to open and swallow him up. Cops at least."

The Library Card

"The tall man stood at the edge of the porch. The roof sagged from the two rough posts, which held it, almost closing the gap between his head and the rafters. The dim light from the cabin window cast long shadows from man and posts. A boy stood nearby shivering in the cold October wind. He ran his

fingers back and forth over the broad crown of the head of a coon dog

Sounder

"Stephen waited until his mother and aunt were out in the kitchen making coffee before he slipped away from the family dinner table. He grabbed his binoculars from the sideboard. His cousin Jackson got the crystal radio set out of the hall closet, and the two boys headed for the door."

The Gadget

"Commander IF is in my shirt pocket. We are sitting on an airplane in the last row. Five people-my sister, my mother, Aunt Doris, and Uncle Don. We got on the airplane before the other passengers. 'Too risky to board through the gate,' Uncle Don had explained. Airport security led us through the

cargo area underneath the airport."

Zach's Lie

"My name is India Opal Buloni, and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog."

Because of Winn-Dixie

"The day after my mother died, the priest and I wrapped her body in a gray shroud and carried her to the village church. Our burden was not great. In life she had been a small woman with little strength. Death made her even less. Her name had been Asta."

Crispin: The Cross of Lead

"This story begins within the walls of a castle, with the birth of a mouse. A small mouse. The last mouse born to his parents and the only one of his litter to be born alive."

The Tale of Despereaux

" Roy would not have noticed the strange boy if it weren't for Dana Matherson, because Roy ordinarily didn't look out the window of the school bus. He preferred to read comics and mystery books on the morning ride to Trace Middle. But on this day, a Monday ( Roy would never forget), Dana

Matherson grabbed Roy 's head from behind and pressed his thumbs into Roy 's temple, as if he were squeezing a soccer ball."

Hoot

"The deserted camp ground seemed eerie, like a ghost town. It's too quiet Jonathan though. Where is everyone? Even though the purpose of a camping trip was to get away from the city, it seemed unnatural to hear no boat motors, no radios, and no human voices except for his family."

Earthquake Terror

"That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not intend to lay a curse on me. She meant to bestow a gift. When I cried inconsolably through my first hour of life, my tears were her inspiration. Shaking her head ympathetically at Mother, the fairy touched my nose. "My gift is obedience. Ella will always be obedient. Now stop that crying, child."

Ella Enchanted

"Brian Robeson stared out the window of the small plane at the endless green northern wilderness below. It was a small plan, a Cessna 406-a bush plane-and the engine was so loud, so roaring and consuming and loud, that it ruined any chance for conversation

Hatchet

"If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things happen in themiddle."

The Bad Beginning

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive , were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people

you'd expect to be involved…they just didn't hold with such nonsense."

The Sorcerer's Stone