Beginning ~ with an old woman

The Silent Boy ~ by Lois Lowry, 2003, YA fiction

I am a very old woman now.  My great-grandchildren — who call me Docky, a name my youngest patients gave me years ago — ask me to tell them stories, and I make up tales about talking pigs with pink hair ribbons on their curly tails, or monkeys who wear vests and carry canes.   I am as good at foolishness as I once was in the operating room.

If I tried to tell them this story, the one I am about to set down here, their parents would send me warning looks over the heads of the children.  Don't, the looks would say.  Stop.

Even as a child, Katy Thatcher knew that she too wanted to be a doctor.  Because Jacob can communicate with animals, Katy thinks of him as someone special, even though the townspeople think he's an imbecile.  But the key words on the back cover that make me want to read the book are these:

He meant to help, not harm.  It didn't turn out that way.

Lois Lowry is a fantastic writer.  I've read both of her YA novels (young adult fiction) that have been awarded the Newbery Medal:  Number the Stars and The Giver.  I look forward to hearing the story Katy will tell us in this book — about Jacob.

Would the first few lines of your book make you want to read on?  To share the first lines of a book you are reading, click on the link and visit Katy at A Few More Pages (today's participants).  Browse there to find interesting books for your own reading list.  And don’t forget that Katy and all the contributors to this meme — including me — love comments.