Library Links

"Content that might be of interest to Teacher-Librarians..."


16.5.11

The Best 100 Opening Lines From Books

Literature's finest first words

"There's nothing quite like a book that has you gripped from the very first line. As the first thing the reader reads, it's been said that the opening line sells a book whislt the closing line sells the author's next one. [S]tylist magazine put together a list of the "100 best" - and, in some cases, the most iconic - first lines from some favourite works of literature. From classics such as Little Women and Emma and landmark novels such as Virgina Woolf's A Room Of One's Own through to modern day works including Harry Potter and Atonement, these are lines to capture the imagination."

Click on the book cover to read the first line of each title. It might be fun to do the same thing with popular 'tween titles or a selection of books from the school library.