Great beginnings start with the very first line or two. Do you recognize the books these first lines represent? Answers are at the bottom. Have fun and don’t peek!
FIRST LINES:
1 - “Where’s Pa going with that ax?”
2 - “In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.”
3 - “All children except one, grow up.”
4- “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”
5 - “Ma, a mouse has to do what a mouse has to do.”
6 - “Wemberly worried about everything.”
7 - “When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most
disagreeable-looking child ever seen. It was true, too.”
8 - “Once there was a tree and she loved a little boy.”
9 - “The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind…”
10 - “When Mrs. Frederick C. Little’s second son arrived, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a
mouse.”
11 - Today, Monday, Wanda Petronski was not in her seat.”
12 - “Keith, the boy in the rumpled shorts and shirt, did not know he was being watched as he entered room 215 of
the Mountain View Inn.”
13 - “In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf.”
14 - “I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I
tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I
could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”
15 - “The children were having breakfast. This was not a pleasant sight.”
16 - “Farmer Brown has a problem. His cows like to type.”
17 - “I was born in the gutter and grew up in poverty, abandoned by my parents, stealing and begging in order to
survive.”
18. “In a cave in the woods, in his deep, dark lair, through the long, cold winter sleeps a great brown bear.”
19. “I love being fancy.”
20. “Henry Brown wasn’t sure how old he was.”
21. “Once there was a baby who wriggled real bad.”
22. “Every Who down in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot, but the Grinch, who lived just north of Who-ville, did NOT!”
23. “How does a dinosaur say good night when Papa comes in to turn off the light?”
24 - “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was
on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
ANSWERS:
1. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
2. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelman
3. Peter Pan by J.M.Barrie
4. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
5. Ragweed by Avi
6. Wemberly Worried by Kenvin Henkes
7. The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett
8. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
9. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
10. Stuart Little by E.B. White
11.The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
12. The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
13. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
14. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
15. Five Minutes Peace by Jill Murphy
16. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
17. Stay! by Lois Lowry
18. Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
19. Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor
20. Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine
21. The Wriggly, Wriggly Baby by Jessica Clerk
22. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
23. How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yolen
24. The Bible:Genesis 1:1 &2 by God
FIRST LINES:
1 - “Where’s Pa going with that ax?”
2 - “In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.”
3 - “All children except one, grow up.”
4- “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”
5 - “Ma, a mouse has to do what a mouse has to do.”
6 - “Wemberly worried about everything.”
7 - “When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most
disagreeable-looking child ever seen. It was true, too.”
8 - “Once there was a tree and she loved a little boy.”
9 - “The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind…”
10 - “When Mrs. Frederick C. Little’s second son arrived, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a
mouse.”
11 - Today, Monday, Wanda Petronski was not in her seat.”
12 - “Keith, the boy in the rumpled shorts and shirt, did not know he was being watched as he entered room 215 of
the Mountain View Inn.”
13 - “In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf.”
14 - “I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I
tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I
could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”
15 - “The children were having breakfast. This was not a pleasant sight.”
16 - “Farmer Brown has a problem. His cows like to type.”
17 - “I was born in the gutter and grew up in poverty, abandoned by my parents, stealing and begging in order to
survive.”
18. “In a cave in the woods, in his deep, dark lair, through the long, cold winter sleeps a great brown bear.”
19. “I love being fancy.”
20. “Henry Brown wasn’t sure how old he was.”
21. “Once there was a baby who wriggled real bad.”
22. “Every Who down in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot, but the Grinch, who lived just north of Who-ville, did NOT!”
23. “How does a dinosaur say good night when Papa comes in to turn off the light?”
24 - “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was
on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
ANSWERS:
1. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
2. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelman
3. Peter Pan by J.M.Barrie
4. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
5. Ragweed by Avi
6. Wemberly Worried by Kenvin Henkes
7. The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett
8. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
9. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
10. Stuart Little by E.B. White
11.The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
12. The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
13. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
14. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
15. Five Minutes Peace by Jill Murphy
16. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
17. Stay! by Lois Lowry
18. Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
19. Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor
20. Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine
21. The Wriggly, Wriggly Baby by Jessica Clerk
22. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
23. How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yolen
24. The Bible:Genesis 1:1 &2 by God
