First Line / Last Line

1. First Line / Last Line • From Guts, by Gary Paulsen • 1st: “Perhaps the single most catastrophic event in Brian’s life in Hatchet is when the pilot dies of a heart attack.” • Last: “What if a person suddenly found himself in a wilderness as old as time …” • From Abracadabra Kid, by Sid Fleischman • 1st: “I am astonished, when I pause to think about it, to discover myself to be an author of humorous novels for children.” • Last: “See Sid stretch.”

2. From Boy, by Roald Dahl • 1st: “My father, Harald Dahl, was a Norwegian who came from a small town near Oslo, called Sarpsborg.” • Last: “It is a different tale altogether, and if it all goes well, I may have a shot at telling it one of these days.” • From A Girl from Yamhill, by Beverly Cleary • 1st: “Mother and I stand on the weathered and warped back steps looking up at my father, who sits, tall and handsome in work clothes, astride a chestnut horse.” • Last: “The bus rumbled along through the Willamette Valley, on, on into the night, carrying me toward my future.”

3. From Childtimes, by Eloise Greenfield and Lessie Jones Little • 1st: “People are a part of their time.” • Last: “A childtime is a mighty thing.” • From Marshfield Dreams, by Ralph Fletcher • 1st: “There’s a town called Marshfield in the state of Vermont.” • Last: “Then I stood up and stepped into my new life, whatever that might be.”

4. My First Line & My Last Line • Lasting Impression First Impression • An accurate impression • A false impression • Focus • Moment in Time • Place • Person • Event • Thought • Reflection