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    16 Of The Best Opening Lines From Children's Books

    Once upon a time...a great book had a great beginning. From classic children's literature to more contemporary reads, these sixteen novels will hook you from the start.

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

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

    3. "Not every 13-year-old girl is accused of murder, brought to trial, and found guilty."

    4. "'Where's Papa going with that axe?' said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast."

    5. "There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife."

    6. "On the morning I was scheduled to die, a large barefoot man with a bushy red beard waddled past my house."

    7. "Ba-room, ba-room, ba-room, baripity, baripity, baripity, baripity—Good."

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

    9. "Thunder crashed, louder than anything Hollyleaf had heard before."

    10. "How five crows managed to lift a twenty-pound baby boy into the air was beyond Prue, but that was certainly the least of her worries."

    11. "The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world."

    12. "I didn't know how long I had been in the king's prison."

    13. "Sophie had waited all her life to be kidnapped."

    14. "Marley was dead, to begin with."

    15. "Sometimes there's no warning."

    16. "It certainly seemed like it was going to be another normal evening at Amelia Bedelia's house."