With only a couple of weeks until your controlled assessment, you should be reading children’s literature to decide which book you would like to write about.
1) By Monday, please write the name of the book and author in the comment box and a brief description of the book so that we can check suitability.
2) Write the opening (sentence or two – maximum, a short paragraph) of the book you have chosen, and comment on whether any of the following narrative hooks have been used: the puzzling hook; the direct address hook; the subtle hook; the atmospheric hook; the visual hook; the funny hook; the direct speech hook.
Miss Durman & Mr Dettman
English at Dartmouth Academy 
Confessions of an Essex girl
Becci Fox
Becci Fox is an Essex girl through and through. she just wants to be comfortable and spoilt, taken to nice places and showered with presents. She’s also ambitious, working hard during the day as a bridal buyer. At night she plays hard, clubbing at Sugar Hut and Faces, mixing with celebrities and soap stars. she knows how to handle the footballers who by you Cristal champagne and make you feel like the most special person in the room. Becci shares six dramatic months in her life as she and her friends have fun, fall in love, handle heartbreak and betrayal, and even plan a big fat Essex wedding.
first few lines in the book-
So you think you’ve got us figured out? Essex girl equals tan, teeth and tits. you don’t know the half of it. Let me tell you something. While you have been laughing at them lot from ‘The Only Way Is Essex’, they have been laughing all the way to the bank. And all because some posh producers came along one day and went,’ Crank up the Essex to the max, and … action,’ and their selected cast became the caricatures we wanted them to be: over-the-top, monthly flash.
There are many narrative hooks used at the begging of my book including: the puzzling hook; the direct address hook; the visual hook; the funny hook; the direct speech hook. After reading this first paragraph it has made me want to read more to find out what the true Essex is. It also seems to be funny which will mean that I will enjoy reading the book.
The book I have chosen is Astrosaurs. Name Riddle of the raptors. Author Steve Cole
Description…..
flesh-chomping raptors have kidnapped two top dino athletes. With the great dinosaur games about to start, Teggs (DSS captain) and his friends must race to the rescue. But there’s more to the raptors’ plot than meets the eye…
The first page. ‘Space. It stretched on for ever. Distant stars twinkled. Comets showed off their sparkling tails. Strange planets hung like bright bulbs in the black sky. Teggs stegosaur stared out at it all in wonder. He was standing on the top deck of a massive space station – the headquarters of the Dinosaur Space Service.
There are hooks in this first page. Kids who like space or astronauts will like this book just by the first page. But also for children that like action and also adventure.
What sort of hook is used? Why does it appeal to ‘kids’? Ensure that you use capital letters at the start of all sentences.
Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior
By Chris Bradford
Jack fletcher, who was on the Alexandria. A ship sailing around the world to discover a new land, has shipwrecked on the coast of japan. The crew all died at the hands of the wakō (basically ninja pirates) and Jack is left to fend for himself in the new found land of Japan. The story is set in 17th century Japan which means the book is imbedded with ninjas, samurai and lots of action.
Prologue: Masamoto Tenno.
‘The boy snapped awake. He seized his sword.
Tenno hardly dared to breathe. He sensed someone else was in the room. As his eyes grew accustomed to the dark, he searched for signs of movement. But he could see nothing, only shadows within shadows, the moonlight seeping ghostlike through the lucent paper walls. Perhaps he had been wrong… His samurai training, though, warned him otherwise.
I’m not sure if this is for the group I’m in or not… but it’s done.
The book I am reading is ‘Wonder’, by R.J Palacio. This book is about a boy named August who has a problems. This book shows emotions very easily, and what life he’s been through. Basically a the book is like a diary. The book includes ‘the direct address hook’ as it feels like August it talking to you.
Ruben, well done for identifying the hook used. Can you now give specific examples?
Kensuke’s Kingdom – Michael Morpurgo
Michael goes on a around the world trip with his parent’s and leaves everything back at home. In the middle of nowhere there is an accident and Michael and his dog Stella end up washed up on a island in the middle of the pacific. Michael then discovers that he may not be alone on the island.
Opening line- I disappeared on the night before my twelve birthday. July 28 1988. Only now can I at last tell the whole extraordinary story, the true story. Kensuke made me promise that I would say nothing, nothing at all, until at least ten years had passed.
I think this is a puzzling hook, as it creates lots of questions for the reader straight away. What is his story? Who is Kensuke? Why did he want it all to be a secret?