First Lines of the Last 30 Newbery Award Winners.

What does the first line of a book convey to its reader? And can you, by examining such lines in books granted the very highest of literary awards to children’s books, glean some kind of insight or wisdom by reading through them, one by one?

The easy answer to all of this is no. Of course not. Writers of books for children understand instinctively the importance of that opening salvo to their piece, but it’s just that. A single line out of hundreds. There’s no magic to it. If you write th...