Real Books, Reel Lines

     Recently a friend asked me to think of my favorite books and when they hooked my attention. To facilitate this I pulled several of my favorites from my personal library and wrote down a few quotes from each. Some of the quotes are the first lines of the books, or something in particular I liked. Here is the result:

Eddie’s Blue Winged Dragon by C. S. Alder

“Eddie considered hiding the five dollars in his orthopedic shoes, but why should he? He had nothing to be afraid of. He was just a regular kid going to a regular school now” (p. 9).

Poppy by Avi

“At the very edge of this forest stood an old charred oak on which sat a great horned owl. The owl’s name was Mr. Ocax, and he looked like death itself” (p. 1).

“The and there Poppy vowed she would never leave home again. The difficulty was that at that moment she was far from home, frightened and alone” (p. 15).

Shakespeare’s Secret by Elise Broach

“It was the last day of summer” (p. 3).

“That was the strange thing about moving so often. It forced you to think about starting over every time, whether you wanted to or not” (p. 4 - 5).

Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix

“The fire had gone out and I didn’t know what to do” (p. 1).

“I was cold. I was lonely. I was engaged to be married in two short months to the most handsome man I’d ever see - the prince of the land, the heir to the throne. But I had never felt so alone in all my life, not even shivering in rags in my garret the day they came to say my father was dead. This was happiness?” (p. 9 - 10).

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

“Miri woke to the sleepy bleating of a goat” (p. 7).

“Marda always said she could not resist Miri’s low, throaty laugh and defied the mountain itself not to rumble as well. But Miri liked her sister’s laugh better than a belly full of soup” (p. 10).

The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell

“Three days after my thirteenth birthday, Armas, the Executioner and Chief of Prisons, came for me while I ate breakfast” (p. 1).

“Pa was very patient: He jerked me out from behind the tapestry and dragged me across the great hall, outside past the hub gardens, and through the castle gates into the plum orchard before yelling” (p. 10).

A Memory of Dragons by Annabel and Edgar Johnson

“I’m putting all this on file, just in case. Call it insurance. I don’t know exactly what these guys are up to, but on cold nights, it is wise to cover you own aspidistra, especially when somebody invites you to become a spy” (p. 5).

Prisoner of PSI by Annabel and Edgar Johnson

“The house was almost as old as Denver itself - one of a row of brick boxes” (p. 7).

“I was gripping the scorched lump of steel hard enough to sprain a few fingers. All at once I heaved it as far as I could throw. That produced a tangible tremor of dread from the aspen grove. I put the lid on my pot of emotions and tried to simmer them down before I went across to renew old enmities” (p. 24).

Savvy by Ingrid Law

“When my brother Fish turned thirteen we moved to the deepest part of inland because of the hurricane and, of course, the fact that he’d caused it” (p. 1).

The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt by Patricia MacLachlan

“Melinda Pratt rides city bus number twelve to her cello lesson, wearing her mother’s jean jacket and only one sock” (p. 1).

Holes by Louis Sachar

“There is no lake at Camp Green Lake” (p. 3).

What are your favorite books to read?