Hooked from the start

Read this opening to a novel What puzzle are they setting?

Michael Grant, Gone:

" One minute the teacher was talking about the Civil War. And the next minute he was gone. There. Gone. No 'poof'. No flash of light. No explosion.

• The reader wonders: what the teacher was talking about.

• The reader wants to solve the mystery: What is the Civil War?

• The reader wants to solve the mystery: Why has the teacher disappeared?

Find the odd one out.

Which of the following narrative openings does NOT create an unusual atmosphere to hook the reader?

• It was an afternoon in late September. In the pleasant city of Stillwater, Mr. Popper, the house painter, was going home from work.

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

• The first thing yer learn when your dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say. About anything.

How does this opening line hook the reader?

Pig Heart Boy by Malorie Blackman

" I am drowning in this roaring silence. I am drowning. I am going to die"

• A factual tone to reveal something strange.

• Middle of a conversation.

• Middle of the action.

How does this opening line hook the reader?

Gabriel Garcia Marquez- A Hundred Years of Solitude:

Many years later as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.

• In the middle of the action

• Flashback

• Introducing a strong main character.

How does this opening line hook the reader?

"My sister, Rose lives on the mantlepiece. Well, some of her does"

• A factual tone to reveal something strange.

• Middle of the conversation

• Description of setting