You've Got Five Pages, The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill, to Tell Me You're Good.

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! Ooo, folks, this is a neat one. The atmosphere of a dark fairy tale hangs heavy in the old farmhouse where Kelly Barnhill's The Crane Husband takes place. Our narrator is a fifteen-year-old girl who's become the caregiver to both her little brother and mother--a mother who, on this day, brings home a large crane and calls him their father. We as readers are as agog as the little brother, while the teen is doing her best to maintain a cynical sanity to her mother's artistic whims. The fact we as readers do not know about the crane being dressed in human clothing until the second page irked me at first, but as a writer I respect Barnhill's choice to show the reactions to the initial shock of a crane in the kitchen before the next shock of the crane in clothes. The third shock comes when the mother shows intimate displays of affection to the crane--and the crane reciprocates. The chapter ends with the teen blowing this off, eager for the crane's departure like her mother's other lovers, but the chapter ends with yet another masterful twist by Barnhill*: My mother wasn't one to keep anything around, save for me and Michael. So I wasn't particularly worried about the crane. I should have been worried about the crane. With such a bizarre start, I can only imagine where Barnhill's tale can go from here. And what will you learn from these opening pages? Let's find out! Cheers! *If I refer to Kelly Barnhill as Kate at some point, I humbly apologize. I goofed!