To have a strong lead means that you have captured the reader's attention, possibly painted a picture of the setting, and maybe even introduced the charcter! Take a look at some of your favorite books and pay special attention to the beginning of the story or the beginning of each chapter to see how a mentor writer wrote their lead.
Notice how some authors begin with a descriptive setting, while others began as close to the end of the story as possible, for example, starting with the conflict or problem in mind.
For example:
When I think about whathappened to me in front of 50 people at Lake Twilla
last summer, I still cringe with embarrassment.
Have Fun!
The churchyard was damp and overgrown. I crouched among the nettles, by the graves of my father, my mother and my little brothers. The wind roared around me and twenty miles away, across the sea howled.
ReplyDeleteAuthor is Charles Dickens. Found on page one.
Sunlight had faded from the late-afternoon sky.Puffy snow clouds were moving in."Let's hurry. I'm cold," said Jack.He and Annie were walking home from school.Their Christmas vacation was just beginning.Cooo-Cooo."Wait said Annie. look."She pointed to a white bird sitting on a bare tree branch at the edge of the woods.The bird was staring at them.
ReplyDeleteBlue Willow
ReplyDelete"Janey Larkin paused on the top step of the shack and looked down at her shadow. Just now it was a very short shadow even for a ten-year-old girl who wasn't nearly as tall as she should be."
By: Doris Gates P.g 1
It was a FREEZING_COLD friday night in winter.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE YOU OR CLASS
ReplyDeleteMy exciting lead is....
ReplyDeleteMaking his way up along a narrow trail at the edge of the Peruvian rain forest, Indiana Jones used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat from his unshaven face!
"The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment."
ReplyDeleteBy: J.K. Rowling, Page 31
"We can't let it happen again!" Queen Karolina said, dabbing at the tears that glistened in her deep blue eyes.
ReplyDelete- The Wide Awake Princess, Prologue, E.D. Baker
"My frog is missing," croaked Stringbean Noonan.
ReplyDeleteAnd I must have him back by this Sunday at noon.
Dear Nate,
ReplyDeleteWha page are you on in HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER`S OF STONE,i am on page 74?
"Anybody want a water ice?' I call through the screen door of Dr. Mac's place. 'Water ice!' several voices shout from inside. Chairs scrape the floor, file drawers slam shut, and a stampede heads my way. Water ice-shaved ice drenched with flavored syrup and pieces of fruit-is a Summer favorite around Philadelphia. Totally yummy. David Hutchinson bolts out the door first,followed closely by Brenna Lake, Sunita Patel, and... "Where's Zoe?' I ask. I bought the mango just for her?'
ReplyDeleteMy book is called:If wishes were horses.
ReplyDeleteThe author is:Sibley Miller and illustrated by Tara Larson Chang and Jo Gershman.
My leads:"The pretty meadow Behind Leanna's yellow farm-house and big red barn had wild-flowers,trees,animals,and insects.Yet,Leanna didn't feel happy in her new home.All I've got bunch of birds and bees,dragon-flies and dandelions",Leanna said to herself."No friends yet."Just then,one of the meadows many dandelions brushed against her leg.Leanna looked down at a surprise.This dandelion was a doozy!It was tall and its bloom was a as big as a hens egg.With some effort,Leanna broke its stem."
Dear Sam Theo21 , What was the title of the book and who is the author?
ReplyDeleteYour classmate
julia :-)
In a town in Calabria, a long time ago, there lived an old lady everyone called Strega Nona, which meant "Grandma Witch."
ReplyDeleteStrega Nona by Tomie de Paola
Harry sits next to me in Room 2B. He looks like any other second grader except for one thing. Harry loves doing horrible things.
ReplyDeleteFarmer Boy
ReplyDeleteIt was January in northern New York State,sixty-seven years ago. Snow lay deep everywhere. It loaded the bare limbs of oak and maples and beeches,it bent the green boughs of cedars and spruces down into the drifts.
By Laura Ingalls Wilder
Dear Madison,
ReplyDeleteIs Farmer Boy a good book?
from,23nex:-)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mouse was the youngest of therteen children.He was also the smallest.His mother had given the other twelve mouse pups quite ordinary names, like Bill or Jane.But when she looked at her last born and saw that he was only half as big as his brothers and sisters, she said to her self," He should have a important souding name to make up for his lack of size. A Mouse Called Wolf Illustrated By Jon Goodell
ReplyDelete"Dirt! Dirt! Dirt! Ugh! Who knew there was so much dirt in the world?" I brush my long hair back from my face and dip my scrub brush back into the soapy water. "I swear, it would be easier just to buy new kennels," I remark to my friend David Hutcninson, who's stuck with the same chore. It is a gorgeous spring day. We ought to be doing somethig to enjoy it. But for some reason Gran-otherwise known as Dr. JJ Mackenzie, the best vet in Ambler- thinks it's the perfect day for cleaning. She's put all of the Wild At Heart volunteers to work-me, david, my cousin Maggie, plus Brenna Lake and Sunita Patel- giving the clinic a thorough cleaning from to bottom. Windows, cabinets, closets, cages... You get the picture. She wants everything to sparkle.
ReplyDeleteDear madison 16,
ReplyDeleteI love Laura Ingalls Wider books! Do you?
"Were is Pocahontas?" asked cheif Powhatan. "Everyone in the village had turned out to welcome home their leader and his brave warriors, everyone, that is, except Powhatan's beloved daughter, Pocahontas.
ReplyDeleteHeidi
ReplyDeleteBy: Johanna Spyri
At the foot of the beautiful Swiss mountains lives the small village of Mayenfeild. From this village there leads a narrow mountain footpath that travels through green meadows,into the little town of Dorfli, and then on up to the very top of Alm Mountain.
On a sunny morning in June, a tall woman and a little girl, who looked about 5 years old, were climbing the path. The woman's name was Detie and the little girl was her niece, Heidi. Even though it was a hot day, the child was wearing two dresses and a shawl. She was so hot she was bright red.
' Welcome to Agrabah city of enchantment of mystery of delight...where things are never as they seem. This lamp for instance. It is no ordinary lamp. It once changed a young man's life. A young man, who, like this lamp, was more than he appeared. Come closer and I will tell you his tale."
ReplyDeleteAladdin
By: Disney
Danny The Champion of the World
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 4 months old, my mother died suddenly and my father was left to look after me all by himself.
ROALD DAHL pg. 1
Sponge was runing from dark scary zombies
ReplyDeleteTed Hammond huffed and puffed as he pedaledup the small hill on the road back into town.
ReplyDeleteAdded author to new post below.
DeleteConnor 7
Ted Hammond huffed and puffed as he pedaled up the small hill on the road back into town.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Clements
It was 11:34 P.M., and the McGuires' kitchen looked like a school cafeteria after a massive food fight. Candy wrappers, crushed potato chips, and peanut shells littered the kitchen counter. Squashed marshmallows were stuck to the floor in gooey gobs.
ReplyDeleteLizzie Goes Wild adapted by Kirsten Larsen
Dear Cassidy,
DeleteI think your lead is great!
My name is A.J. and I hate ferrets.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever see a ferret? They are these disgusting brown animals that look like long, skinny rats.
My friend Neil, who we call the nude kid even though he wears clothes, has a pet ferret. His name is Mr. Wiggles. Last year Neil brought Mr. Wiggles to school on Crazy Pet Day. He escaped from his cage and climbed into a hat that belonged to this crybaby girl named Emily-while it was on her head! Emily freaked and went running out of the room.
It was hilarious. You should have been there!
Book: Mayor Hubble Is Trouble!
By: Dan Gutman
Until he was for years old, James Henry Trotter had had a happy life. He lived peacefully with his mother and father in a beautiful house beside the sea. There wer always plenty of other children for him to play with, and there was the sand beach for him to run about on and the ocean to paddle in. It was the perfect life for a small boy.
ReplyDeleteThen, one day, James's mother and father went to London to do some shopping, an there a terrible thing happened. Both of them suddenlyt got eaten up (in fullo daylight, id you, and on a crowded street) by an enormous angry rhinoceros which had escaped from the London Zoo.
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Until he was for years old, James Henry Trotter had had a happy life. He lived peacefully with his mother and father in a beautiful house beside the sea. There were always plenty of other children for him to play with, and there was the sandy beach for him to run about on and the ocean to paddle in. It was the perfect life for a small boy.
ReplyDeleteThen, one day, James's mother and father went to London to do some shopping, and there a terrible thing happened. Both of them suddenly got eaten up (in full daylight, mind you, and on a crowded street) by an enormous angry rhinoceros which had escaped from the London Zoo.
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Reply
There were only two things Alison Rose knew she could count on: her best friend and cousin, Kelly, and the fact that everyone else in her family would stop at nothing to destroy one another.
ReplyDeleteLike now. Alison was in the middle of a battle with her made-of-steel mother. And this time she was not going to lose. Digging her orange-painted nails into her palms, she lobbed a verbal grenade.
Little Secrets - Playing with Fire by Emily Blake
Ivy Bean Break The Fossil Record
ReplyDeleteBoring
Boring
Boring!!
Bean turned her book upside down and tried to read it that way. Cool. Well,sort of cool. No boring.
BY:ANNIE BARROWS
Sienna
lauren
ReplyDeleteI myself had two separate encounters with witches before I was eight years old.
The Witches
by Roald Dahl
When Chris Blanken got an emegency call to report to the beach, he expected it to be busy. And it was! About 80 dolphins were wriggling and squeaking in the shallow water.
ReplyDeleteDog Find Lost Dolphins. By: Elizabeth Carney
Kevin
It was a cold December morning. How cold was it, you ask? It was so cold the cheese sandwich I ate for breakfast turned into a cheese popsicle.
ReplyDeleteFrom: Geronimo Stilton - A Christmas Tale
By Rowan Weber
Dear Rowan
DeleteI really like your lead
Seth's lead:
ReplyDeleteGabriel Young couldn't remember the last time he had a bath.
First sentence from "Dangerous Ride across Humboldt Flats"
Author: Stephen Bly
Titanic
ReplyDeleteIn the early 1900's there were no airplanes. The only way to get across the ocean was by ship.
In 1906, a British company the Cunard Line launche two new ships. They were large and comfortable. They could cross the ocean in 5 days.
Jonathan's lead:
ReplyDeleteFor months I had been telling myself that I would never put the Magic Finger upon anyone again - not after what happened to my teacher, old Mrs. Winter.
Poor old Mrs. Winter
From: The Magic Finger
Author: Roald Dahl
Rachel Pizzurro's lead:
ReplyDeleteMolly Moon looked down at her pink, blotchy legs.
Title: Molly Moons Incredible Book of Hypnotism.
By: Georgia Byng.
Dear Rachel,
DeleteI think your lead is great!
Mia's lead:
ReplyDeleteSpring comes late to the forests of Minnesota.Gees sour from the south,only to stand flat-footed on frozen lakes,complaining loudly to one another.
Marisa Ikeda's lead:
ReplyDeleteThe new safe stood on the stage of the Euston Palace Theatre in London. Its door was swung wide open. Harry Houdini, the young American magician, got ready to step inside. He was wearing only a bathing suit. London newspapers had printed these bold headlines: Houdini Challenges Safe Maker. Offers to Escape from Safe Before Theatre Audience." The year was 1904.
Title: Harry Houdini Master of Magic
Author: Robert Kraske
Laura was washing dishes when old Jack, lying in the sunshine on the doorstep, growled to tell her that someone was coming.
ReplyDeleteBy Laura Ingalls Wilder
Dear Evelyn,
DeleteI really like your lead
Love,Sienna