Great first line "hooks" - suitable for a Y7 class - PLEASE!

[WendyWeber]

DD1 (in 2nd term of secondary English PGCE) has her first job interview on Thursday, and has been told she will have to teach a Y7 class about how an author hooks them.

Some of the classic hook lines (like "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" or "It is a truth universally acknowledged" or "The past is a foreign country") wouldn't be suitable or appropriate for Y7 so please give her your best ideas!

TIA

First para of first Harry Potter? Not great literature, but something Y7 could get hold of. says that the dursleys are normal thank you very much, last people you would expect to be involved in anything strange...sets up the expectation, something strange must be going on

first line of Day of the Triffids ' when a day you know to be a ?day (TUesday I think) sounds like a Sunday, you know that something must be dreadfully wrong , somewhere'

Is a first line that I read at about 13, and has stuck with me since

( am ex secondary Eng teach btw)

The Magician's Nephew (chronicles of narnia) starts with something like:

"His name was Digory and he almost deserved it"

Or something like that (it's been a while since i read it).

Does it have to be something an author has actually written or could she give examples of something an author might write eg, "Whatever you do, you must NEVER open the box!" or "I almost missed it but sure enough there it was wrapped in a delicate layer of tissue paper". Maybe she could then go on to get the children to write their own story based on that hook line or come up with their own hook lines.
Failing that Roald Dahl tends to have some good ones (although I can't think of any off the top of my head). Good luck anyway!

how about the Hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy?

errr, posted by accident as i meant to continue... with the thought that the story begins with a most ordinary boring day and then... - which could be a great lead in to some creative thinking / writing.

Ooooh yes Giggle that's a good one!

I think you are right chubbymummy, giving a sample hook, then going on to plan a development of it, but using some real examples first would draw students in.

could also use a real hook line or 2, and then get students to brainstorm/thoughtshower (whatever the right term is these days) what happens next

also maybe discuss cliffhangers is soaps - the dumdums as they are referred to in Eastenders or something...as tghey are a hook todraw you in to next episode...could talk about Dikens being serialised, and written with hooks at the end of the segments?

She might find the info on here useful, including the NATE narrative hooks sheet.

www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/progressionmaps/doc/english/group_reading_key_stage_3_pp_11-15.doc

Oooh, all great ideas so far, thank you! I had wondered about Narnia & HP (haven't read any of them for ages, must root) and HHGG and Triffids both very intriguing for this age group I think - I was wondering about Adrian Mole too but can't remember the opener to that either.

cm, getting them to do their own is a fab idea - I don't know how long she has the class for, but she is v enthusiastic and is looking forward to it - in a trepidatious sort of way

hitchhikers a good idea - is similar in a way to triffids...need something non sci fi/fantasy to balance it? will sleep on it

the best one I think of is
"Everything starts somewhere, though many physicists disagree" - Terry Pratchet, in The Hogfather.

Alice in wonderland is the same idea as hitch hikers, Alice doing nothing but reading on a lazy day when ....
y'know the rest

Heated, thank you, that's great! Funnily enough two of the hooks quoted are from Kensuke's Kingdom & Bill's New Frock & she'd already planned to use those (hmm - I wonder if she has already seen that document!)

Doesn't this make you feel that teaching can (and should) be a wonderful and vital job - passing on the things that excite and enthrall you?

BTW I think Panda's "dumdums" [fab word] is a really great idea, so they have the start and finish sort of ideas going on??
Aren't this lot fantastic...

Thanks for all your ideas so far (and yes, I had seen that link: I'm going to borrow it but change it I think!).

I like the Day of the Triffids one, and I LOVE Chubbymummy's idea so thank you.

The brief specifically states "the opening of a story" so not sure about the dum dums... I like the idea though.

Any more ideas will be gratefully received!

WendyWeber's DD1

bump for DD1

Bump... (thanks Mum!)

The Curious Incident of the DOg.... "It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying in the middle of the lawn"

Holes: "There is no lake at Camp Green Lake" Maybe not such a hooker but a great book!

lol @ hooker

possibly not a word for your yr7...

When shall we three meet again -
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

or, of course

Who's there?

(the hook re the second being, of course, that at this point it isn't a ghost. But soon it will be ...)

Drama is especially good at hooks, for sort of obvious reasons. But does she have to do fiction?

Ah, the opening of "a story" - so that could cover a play, then.

Narrative poems, too - have to be immediate & economical with the hook - so you get punchier ones.

That's my last duchess painted on the wall ...

maybe this is too late, but;
"It was a cold bright day and the clocks were striking 13".

(or something like that - 1984, George Orwell)