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August 2023

Welcome! I'm so glad you stopped by.
I hope you find this collection of picture book first lines inspiring and motivational.

If you'd like your book included in a future collection, click here.

Elements of a great first line

How Dinosaurs Went Extinct

A Safety Guide

By Ame Dyckman, art by Jennifer Harney

Published by Little, Brown and Co

First line: How did dinosaurs go extinct, anyway?

Elements used: engages the reader and references something with universal appeal

Comp tags: dinosaurs, humor, being careful, heeding common warnings

First Line Revision Journey

  Hi, kidlit pals! So how did the first line of our HOW DINOSAURS WENT EXTINCT: A SAFETY GUIDE come to be?

Well for starters, the above first line wasn’t my FIRST first line!

  The FIRST first line I wrote went on to become the first line of the rhyming portion of our book (where we introduce 20-sumthin’ dinosaurs and all the dangerous things they did which most certainly caused their extinction maybe). And here it is:

“Gallimimus ran with scissors.”


  I’d come across a scientific illustration of Gallimimus (the “runners” from JURASSIC PARK), which to me looked 

like an ostrich, with similarly thick thighs and legs. And I thought, “That Tall Big Bird Boi DEFINITELY ran with scissors…” BOOM! The idea for the book! Dinosaurs doing goofy unsafe things (like Gallimimus, running with scissors) that they shouldn’t! But after I’d written a list of all the goofy unsafe things that kids (and some grown-ups) often do but shouldn’t, and after I’d researched THE HECK outta HUNDREDS of dinosaurs, and matched 20+ popular/interestingly-named/interestingly-physique-d dinosaurs to their respective goofy unsafe things, AND made the whole wacky thing rhyme, and paged it…I still needed a FRAMEWORK for the 

story. I had the “meat” of my story sandwich, but I still needed the “bread” to hold the whole thing together. 

  And that’s where the family trip to the museum came in. I imagined a family—Dad, Mom, and kid—going to the natural history museum (as my own family often does), and looking at all the fossils of the extinct dinosaurs.

 

And naturally, the kid’s gonna do what kids do. They ask questions:

 

“How did dinosaurs go extinct anyway?”

WOMBAT,
the Reluctant Hero

By Christian Trimmer, art by Rachel Gyan

Published by Roaring Book Press

First line: Wombat liked her things just so.

Elements used: introduces a unique main character and makes the reader feel something

Comp tags: info fiction, wildfires, community

The Noise
Inside Boys

By Pete Oswald

Published by Random House Studio

First line: This is the noise outside boys….

Elements used: introduces a unique premise

Comp tags: feelings, overstimulation, siblings, brothers, father-son relationship

How to Get Your Octopus to School

By Becky Scharnhorst, art by Jaclyn Sinquett

Published by Flamingo Books

First line: Getting your octopus to school won’t be easy.

Elements used: establishes a unique premise and subverts the reader’s expectations 

Comp tags: humor, back-to-school

Spicy Spicy Hot!

By Lenny Wen

Published by Little, Brown and Co

First line: Today Nenek is visiting from Indonesia.

Elements used: references something with universal appeal

Comp tags: cultural foods, grandparents visiting

Miss Irwin

By Allen Say

Published by Scholastic Press

First line: On his way home, a boy stops by a small house.

Elements used: makes the reader wonder something

Comp tags: dementia, memory loss, intergnerational relationships, remembrance

Dear Street

By Lindsay Zier-Vogel, art by Caroline Bonne-Muller

Published by Kids Can Press

First line: Alice loved her street.

Elements used: introduces the main character and makes the reader wonder something

Comp tags: gratitude, contentment, mindfulness, creativity, problem solving

A Day in the Sun

By Diana Ejaita

Published by RISE

First line: Good morning, Sun!

Elements used: References something with universal appeal

Comp tags: what the sun does, the focus of different countries

Windrush Child

By John Agard, art by Sophie Bass

Published by Candlewick Press

First line: Behind you Windrush child palm trees wave goodbye

Elements used: establishes a rhythm that pulls the reader in and makes the reader wonder something

Comp tags: Caribbean immigration, Windrush Generation, old memories, new memories

I'm An American

By Darshana Khiani, art by Laura Freeman

Published by Viking

First line: What do you think makes a person an American?

Elements used: engages the reader and makes the reader wonder something

Comp tags: values, traditions, immigration, what makes America great, America’s mistakes

In the Palm of My Hand

By Jennifer Raudenbush, art by Isabella Conti

Published by RP Kids

First line: In the palm of my hand, I hold an acorn, small and round.

Elements used: makes the reader wonder something

Comp tags: the wonder of nature, lyrical

Farah Loves Mangos

By Sarthak Sinha

Published by Flying Eye Books

First line: Farah loves MANGOS!

Elements used: introduces the main character

Comp tags: mangos, nature, problem solving, intergeneration relationships

All Kinds of Special

By Tammi Sauer, art by Fernando Martin

Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

First line: I’m Mia.

Elements used: introduces the main character

Comp tags: community, change, transition, mangos

DIGESTION!
The Musical

By Adam Rex, art by Laura Park

Published by chronicle books

First line: Your bones hold up your muscles, and your muscles make you go.

Elements used: establishes a rhythm that pulls the reader in

Comp tags: digestion, rhyming, humor

Whatever Comes Tomorrow

By Rebecca Gardyn Levington, art by Mariona Cabassa

Published by Barefoot Books

First line: Tomorrow may bring endless sun or swirly, snowy skies.

Elements used: establishes a rhythm that pulls the reader in and employs poetic devices

Comp tags: change, fear of the unkown, anxiety, lyrical, rhyming, affirmation

The Moon Remembers

By E.B. Goodale

Published by Clarion Books

First line: When a baby is born, the moon is there.

Elements used: establishes a unique premise

Comp tags: life, ancestors, the moon

Take A Chance

By Sujean Rim

Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers

First line: Ever since Bob learned how to fly, there’s no stopping him.

Elements used: introduces the main character and makes the reader wonder something

Comp tags: trying new things

A Garden in my Hands

By Meera Sriram, art by Sandhya Prabhat

Published by Alfred A. Knopf

First line: Stories and seeds Mama plants in my palm for a wedding tomorrow.

Elements used: makes the reader wonder something, employs poetic devices and engages multiple senses

Comp tags: henna, traditions

Just the Right Cake

By Christina Tosi, art by Emily Balsley

Published by Rocky Pond Books

First line: It was a rainy day.

Elements used: esatblishes the setting of the story and makes the reader feel something

Comp tags: divorce, baking, s’mores, finding a new normal

If You Wake A Skunk

By Carol Doeringer, art by Florence Weiser

Published by Sleeping Bear Press

First line: SHHH….

Elements used: engages the reader and makes the reader wonder something

Comp tags: skunks, rhyming

Becoming Charley

By Kelly Dipucchio & Loveis Wise

Published by Alfred A. Knopf

First line: The forest was alive with young caterpillars who kept their heads down, eating, just as they’d been taught to do.

Elements used: hints at a unique premise, starts in the middle of the action, and makes the reader wonder something

Comp tags: nonconformity, monarchs

If I Were

By Pilar Lopez Avila, art by Gina Rosas Moncada

Published by Reycraft books

First line: If I were a tree, my branches would dance to the sound of the wind.

Elements used: employs poetic devises and engages multiple senses

Comp tags: care of the earth, lyrical

Maribel's Year

By Michelle Sterling, art by Sarah Gonzales

Published by Katherine Tegen Books

First line: JANUARY First steps, first snow.

Elements used: employs poetic devices

Comp tags: a year, moving, seasons, change, missing a parent

Wild Blue

By Dashka Slater, art by Laura Hughes

Published by Candlewick Press

First line: My pink pony and I ride the wide open spaces from sunrise to sunset until my daddy says, “You’ve grown, Kayla. You’re too big for that itty-bitty bike.”

Elements used: makes the reader feel something and starts in the middle of the action

Comp tags: milestones, learning to ride a bike, imagination

The Sea in the Way

By Sophie Gilmore

Published by Greenwillow Books

First line: Badger lived far from Bear, with the sea in the way.

Elements used: introduces the main character and his problem

Comp tags: problem solving, discovery, nature, friendship

Manolo and the Unicorn

By Jackie Azua Kramer and Jonah Kramer, art by Zach Manbeck

Published by cameron kids

First line: To Manolo the world was a magical place.

Elements used: introduces the main character

Comp tags: fantasy, imagination, unicorns, magic, fitting in, being yourself, sharing POV

Harold the Iceberg Melts Down

By Lisa Wyzlic, art by Rebecca syracuse

Published by Feiwel adn Friends

First line: Harold was a head of lettuce.

Elements used: introduces an unusual main character

Comp tags: friendship, self-care, care of planet, anxiety, icebergs, making a difference

The Care and Keeping of Grandmas

By Jennifer Mook-Sang, art by Yong Ling Kang

Published by tundra

First line: In their usual habitats, you might find grandmas baking, gardening, rug hooking, parasailing and bungee jumping.

Elements used: subverts the reader’s expectations. 

Comp tags: humor, grandparent moving in, intergenerational relationships

You Rule!

By Rilla Alexander

Published by Handprint Books

First line: How ready are you?

Elements used: Engages the reader and makes the reader wonder something

Comp tags: questions, affirmation, language, feelings, bravery, kindness, love

All By Myself

By Stephanie Shaw, art by Emilie Gill

Published by Peachtree 

First line: Fox slinked in the grass, counting all the favorite foods he loved to eat.

Elements used: starts in the middle of the action

Comp tags: independance,making assumptions, prejudice

Make More S'mores

By Cathy Ballou Mealey, art by Ariel Landy

Published by Sleeping Bear Press

First line: Glowing coals are finally ready.

Elements used: establishes a rhythm that pulls the reader in and makes the reader wonder something

Comp tags: sharing, making s’mores, campfire, friendship, rhyming, counting

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