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I found him in the garage on a Sunday afternoon. It was the day after we moved into Falconer Road.  The winter was ending.  Mum has said we'd be moving just in time for the spring. Nobody else was there.  Just me.  The others were inside the house with Doctor Death, worrying about the baby.

The start of this book raises so many questions in my mind as the reader. I am hooked and want to read on.

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Sam Vimes sighed when he heard the scream, but he finished shaving before he did anything about it.

I like this because it tells us a lot about Vimes' world weariness, and hooks us in wanting to know who screamed and why.

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It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and
bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters'-and-rabbits'
wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack,
fishingboatbobbing sea.



I love the evocative description of the sky and sea. Bible-black also has marvellous alliteration.

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Dr. Iannis had enjoyed a satisfactory day in which none of his patients had died or got worse

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“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” Book: 1984 Author: George Orwell

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The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

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The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

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I am Ivan. I am a gorilla. It's not as easy as it looks.

Simple but engaging.

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"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."

This makes me laugh each time I read it ! How do you get a name you 'nearly' deserved?

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Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

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Night was falling over Muddle Earth. The sun had set, the sky was darkening and already two of its three moons had risen up above the Misty Mountains. One of the moons was as purple as a batbird. The other was as yellow as an ogre's underpants on wash day. Both were full and bright.

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The top 30 floors had broken away a long time ago, but the Galaxy Building was still the tallest in London. Engineers had cleared it up so it was safe up there - sort of.

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"We started dying before the snow, and like the snow, we continued to fall.”

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Coralinne discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house.

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The Iron Man                                          The Iron Man came to the top of the cliff. How far had he walked? Nobody knows. Where had he come from? Nobody knows. Taller than a house, the Iron Man stood at the top of the cliff, on the very brink, in the darkness.

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The Iron Man                                          The Iron Man came to the top of the cliff. How far had he walked? Nobody knows. Where had he come from? Nobody knows. Taller than a house, the Iron Man stood at the top of the cliff, on the very brink, in the darkness.

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Kidnapping children is never a good idea; all the same, sometimes it has to be done.

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N O ONE would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own

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MONKEY PUZZLE - Julia Donaldson.    I've lost my mum.  Hush little monkey don't you cry. I'll help you find her said butterfly.

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MONKEY PUZZLE - Julia Donaldson.    I've lost my mum.  Hush little monkey don't you cry. I'll help you find her said butterfly.

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When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

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"The year that Buttercup was born, the most beautiful woman in the world was a French scullery maid named Annette."

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Rachel Joyce The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

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Rachel Joyce The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

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The letter that would change everything arrived on a Tuesday.

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I disappeared on the night before my twelfth birthday.

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The trawler plunged into the angry swells of the dark, furious sea like an awkward animal trying desperately to break out of an impenetrable swamp.

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Gotham City. Maybe it's all I deserve, now. Maybe it's just my time in hell.

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The Knife Of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness

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The Knife Of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness

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The first thing you learn when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say. About nothing.

"Need a poo, Todd."

"Shut up, Manchee."

"Poo. Poo, Todd."

"I said SHUT IT."

Amusing, very unusual start to a tremendous young adult book. How had the dog learnt to "talk"?

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1801 - I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with.

Bronte builds up intrigue in this one sentence by painting a picture of isolation and solitude but hooks you in by letting you know that troubles are on the horizon.

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The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane. For a second they stood quite still, wands directed at each other's chests; then, recognising each other, the stowed their wands beneath their cloaks and started walking briskly in the same direction."

I like the start of this book (I like all of the books to be honest) because I think it builds suspense. You want to keep reading to find out who the men are. At first you don't know if they are friend or foe, and even when you know they are on the same side, you still don't know which side they are on.

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Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone - J K Rowling

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Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone - J K Rowling

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

This is such an ordinary start to a book and it gives you no idea just how exciting things are going to get!

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Mr Gum is a truly nasty old man. He's a complete horror who hates children, animals, fun, and corn on the cob.

A fabulous read aloud for any classroom - esepecially with the frying pan weilding fairy!

Cheesynz

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Mr Gum | Welcome to the 96% official Mr Gum website. There are so many things to see here we can't even be bothered to tell you about them all. Go explore and discover for yourselves, you lovely little tunglers.

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Mr Stink stank. He also stunk and if it's correct English to say he stinked, then he stinked as well. He was the stinkiest stinky stinker who ever lived.

Added by Seren, "I like the start of this book because it's funny, and it's a bit of a tongue twister".

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Once upon an elephant

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The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

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The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

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"The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn."

I love how the descriptions the author uses to create a mental picture in the readers minds with only a few sentences - Norry Leonard.

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

Start with a statement and build the rest of your story on this premise!

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When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.

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It was the day my grandmother exploded.

Who would not want to read on to find out how that happened?

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It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.

This is such a seemingly plain string of first words, up until 'London was', but as you read on, suddenly something odd strikes you about the scene. in so few words, Reeve superbly orientates the reader and makes them see they are in a strangely different world - one we should recognise, but one in which our capital city can move, and a sea no longer exists! you want to read on, don't you?

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There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife. The knife had a handle of polished black bone, and a blade finer and sharper than any razor. If it sliced you, you might not even know you had been cut, not immediately.

The knife had done almost everything it was brought to that house to do, and both the blade and the handle were wet.

I love how the author has built up suspense by leaving so much information out; he says the knife is 'wet', rather than it is covered in blood - so much more powerful to allow this to slowly dawn on us. There is just enough in there for you to be thoroughly chilled: we realise something sinister and cruel has happened/is happening and await that horrid realisation that we may just have already been hurt! Brilliant.

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A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark w

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It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

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A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket, Daniel Handler

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A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket, Daniel Handler

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If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.

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All children, except one, grow up.

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

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Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded yellow sun

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It was a dark and stormy night

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The Amazing Spiderman Origin Story by Rich Thomas

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The Amazing Spiderman Origin Story by Rich Thomas

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Have you ever felt lonely? Sad? Powerless? Peter Parker felt that way every day.

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The Incredible Hulk Origin Story by Rich Thomas

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The Incredible Hulk Origin Story by Rich Thomas

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Bruce Banner was not always strong. He was not always powerful. And he was not always able to do INCREDIBLE things. But most of all, Bruce was not always feared. In fact, when he was young, Bruce was mostly afraid.

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The Mighty Avengers Origin Story by Rich Thomas

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The Mighty Avengers Origin Story by Rich Thomas

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Like most great stories, ours starts with a troublemaker.

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“‘Where’s Papa going with that axe?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.”

START WITH DIALOGUE

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The Firework-Maker’s
Daughter by Phillip Pullman

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The Firework-Maker’s
Daughter by Phillip Pullman

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A thousand miles ago, in a country

east of the jungle and south of the mountains, there lived a Firework-Maker called Lalchand and his daughter Lila.

Description of setting and character

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I disappeared on the night before my twelfth birthday.

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“‘Where’s Papa going with that axe?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.”

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Marley was dead, to begin with.

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The Iron Man came to the top of the cliff. How far had he walked? Nobody knows. Where had he come from? Nobody knows. Taller than a house, the Iron Man stood at the top of the cliff, on the very brink, in the darkness.

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Johnny never knew for certain why he started seeing the dead.”

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In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms…

Have been reading this type of story for over 42 years now. First read it when I was 10. What genre is it Year 5?

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"It was seven minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shears' house. Its eyes were closed."

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"It was seven minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shears' house. Its eyes were closed."

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In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.

Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

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Gordon Edgleys sudden death came as a shock to everyone - not least himself.

START WITH A STATEMENT