To celebrate the National Year of Reading, we are sharing some fabulous first lines from the books on our bookshelves. (Every Friday you’ll find another fabulous first line here on Soup Blog. Try to guess the book it’s from. Would you read on? Perhaps you can use it as a writing prompt … if it were your own first line, where would your story go from here?)

Now for today’s Fabulous First Line*:

On the outskirts of a tiny little town was a neglected garden.

Do you want to read on? The title of the book is at the end of this post …

*For the purposes of Fabulous First Line Friday, we’re counting the first line as the first line of chapter 1 in any book. So if there is an introduction or an author’s note or something before chapter 1, we don’t count that bit …

The book is Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (our version is illustrated by Lauren Child)

To celebrate the National Year of Reading, we are sharing some fabulous first lines from the books on our bookshelves. (Every Friday you’ll find another fabulous first line here on Soup Blog. Try to guess the book it’s from. Would you read on? Perhaps you can use it as a writing prompt … if it were your own first line, where would your story go from here?)

Now for today’s Fabulous First Line*:

Until he was four years old, James Henry Trotter had a happy life.

*For the purposes of Fabulous First Line Friday, we’re counting the first line as the first line of chapter 1 in any book. So if there is an introduction or an author’s note or something before chapter 1, we don’t count that bit …

The book is James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl..

To celebrate the National Year of Reading, we are sharing some fabulous first lines from the books on our bookshelves. (Every Friday you’ll find another fabulous first line here on Soup Blog. Try to guess the book it’s from. Would you read on? Perhaps you can use it as a writing prompt … if it were your own first line, where would your story go from here?)

Now for today’s Fabulous First Line*:

The first thing Shy remembered was living in a round, dark, leafy nest with her mother and brother, Spur.

*For the purposes of Fabulous First Line Friday, we’re counting the first line as the first line of chapter 1 in any book. So if there is an introduction or an author’s note or something before chapter 1, we don’t count that bit …

The book is Shy the Platypus by Leslie Rees.

To celebrate the National Year of Reading, we are sharing some first lines from books on our bookshelves. So, every Friday for the rest of the year we’re posting a fabulous first line here on Soup Blog.

Here’s today’s Fabulous First Line*:

The day that Leo Zifkak became the owner of the music box, his life changed forever.

Do you want to read on? What do you think comes next?

The title of the book is right at the end of this post so you can try to guess it first.

*For the purposes of Fabulous First Line Friday, we’re counting the first line as the first line of chapter 1 in any book. So if there is an introduction or an author’s note or something before chapter 1, we don’t count that bit …

The book is They Key to Rondo by Emily Rodda.