The Opening
Opening with Figurative Language
My sister’s voice was like mountain water in a silver pitcher; the clear blue beauty of it cools you and lifts you up beyond your heat, beyond your body. After we went to see La Traviata, when she was fourteen and I was twelve, she elbowed me in the parking lot and said, “Check this out.” And she opened her mouth unnaturally wide and her voice came out, so crystalline and bright that all the departing opera-goers stood frozen by their cars, unable to take out their keys or open their doors until she had finished, and then they cheered like crazy.
That’s what I like to remember, and that’s the story I told to all of her therapists. I wanted them to know her, to know that who they saw was not all there was to see.
From Silver Water by Amy Bloom
Opening with Dialogue
“I don’t even know what I did this time, “ I say to my best friend, Harrison Emerson. We watch my mother park her car in the school’s visitor parking slot.
“Could be she’s here because of Kate. Maybe Kate’s in trouble,” Harrison suggests. He is sitting on the asphalt in the shade of the backboard drawing a chicken in his math book. He always draws during recess, until a noon aide makes him play.
“Oh, right. My little sister’s idea of getting in trouble is putting a book back upside down, “ I say, mopping the sweat off my forehead with the tail of my shirt. I sock the handball hard against the backboard.
“Antonia MacPherson, please come to the office.” The loud speaker sounds patchy and too loud. A kid I don’t know screams. Another kid smacks the tetherball behind me.
“Antonia MacPherson, please come to the office.” The loud speaker lady is mad now, like if she has to walk all the way out to the playground to find me, my butt will be butter.
From Notes from a Liar and Her Dog by Gennifer Choldenko
Opening with Action
The referee blows his whistle . Adam kicks off, and I run as hard as I can. Number 45 in red lowers his shoulder, but I fake inside and cut outside. The return man runs the other way and is tackled at the twenty-five. The game of my life is finally underway.
From Crackback by John Coy
Opening with Description
The sunshine poured out of the sky like liquid. The Atlantic did not move. Even though the tide was coming in, there was no sound or surf. No waves crashing against the rocks. No booming where the air was slapped into pockets by the tremendous whitecaps. The water just lay there, as if a personality stronger than the ocean itself had flattened it.
From The Fog by Caroline B. Cooney
The house looked strange. It was completely empty now, and the door was flung wide open, like something wild had just escaped from it. Like it was the empty, two-story tomb of some runaway zombie.
From Tangerine by Edward Bloor
Opening with a Question
You know what I hate about the bus?
Well, I guess really it’s a few things.
The smell, the sight of some filthy guy yelling, the continuous stop-and-go, and, what really bugs me the most, when I can only see the back of the head of what could possibly be a very cute girl.
From Busted by Erik P. Kraft
“Where’s Papa going with that axe?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.
From Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Opening with a Funny Moment
My mother said he was trouble the first time I met him. His name was Frankie Pagoda, and he had just been catapulted across his yard like a human cannonball and landed badly in ours. He was moaning as I stood over him, not knowing what to do. He was on his back and at first he wasn’t moving, but slowly he began to gyrate his arms and legs like a stunned crab.
From The Follower by Jack Gantos
Opening with Mystery
It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs. Shears's house. Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it were running on its side, the way dogs run when they thing they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead.
From The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
My sister’s voice was like mountain water in a silver pitcher; the clear blue beauty of it cools you and lifts you up beyond your heat, beyond your body. After we went to see La Traviata, when she was fourteen and I was twelve, she elbowed me in the parking lot and said, “Check this out.” And she opened her mouth unnaturally wide and her voice came out, so crystalline and bright that all the departing opera-goers stood frozen by their cars, unable to take out their keys or open their doors until she had finished, and then they cheered like crazy.
That’s what I like to remember, and that’s the story I told to all of her therapists. I wanted them to know her, to know that who they saw was not all there was to see.
From Silver Water by Amy Bloom
Opening with Dialogue
“I don’t even know what I did this time, “ I say to my best friend, Harrison Emerson. We watch my mother park her car in the school’s visitor parking slot.
“Could be she’s here because of Kate. Maybe Kate’s in trouble,” Harrison suggests. He is sitting on the asphalt in the shade of the backboard drawing a chicken in his math book. He always draws during recess, until a noon aide makes him play.
“Oh, right. My little sister’s idea of getting in trouble is putting a book back upside down, “ I say, mopping the sweat off my forehead with the tail of my shirt. I sock the handball hard against the backboard.
“Antonia MacPherson, please come to the office.” The loud speaker sounds patchy and too loud. A kid I don’t know screams. Another kid smacks the tetherball behind me.
“Antonia MacPherson, please come to the office.” The loud speaker lady is mad now, like if she has to walk all the way out to the playground to find me, my butt will be butter.
From Notes from a Liar and Her Dog by Gennifer Choldenko
Opening with Action
The referee blows his whistle . Adam kicks off, and I run as hard as I can. Number 45 in red lowers his shoulder, but I fake inside and cut outside. The return man runs the other way and is tackled at the twenty-five. The game of my life is finally underway.
From Crackback by John Coy
Opening with Description
The sunshine poured out of the sky like liquid. The Atlantic did not move. Even though the tide was coming in, there was no sound or surf. No waves crashing against the rocks. No booming where the air was slapped into pockets by the tremendous whitecaps. The water just lay there, as if a personality stronger than the ocean itself had flattened it.
From The Fog by Caroline B. Cooney
The house looked strange. It was completely empty now, and the door was flung wide open, like something wild had just escaped from it. Like it was the empty, two-story tomb of some runaway zombie.
From Tangerine by Edward Bloor
Opening with a Question
You know what I hate about the bus?
Well, I guess really it’s a few things.
The smell, the sight of some filthy guy yelling, the continuous stop-and-go, and, what really bugs me the most, when I can only see the back of the head of what could possibly be a very cute girl.
From Busted by Erik P. Kraft
“Where’s Papa going with that axe?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.
From Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Opening with a Funny Moment
My mother said he was trouble the first time I met him. His name was Frankie Pagoda, and he had just been catapulted across his yard like a human cannonball and landed badly in ours. He was moaning as I stood over him, not knowing what to do. He was on his back and at first he wasn’t moving, but slowly he began to gyrate his arms and legs like a stunned crab.
From The Follower by Jack Gantos
Opening with Mystery
It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs. Shears's house. Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it were running on its side, the way dogs run when they thing they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead.
From The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon