“There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife. The knife had a handle of polished black bone, and a blade sharper than any razor. If it sliced you, you might not even know you had been cut, not immediately.” This is the first paragraph that you read in this book. I found it suspenseful and left me with many questions. Why was there a knife in the darkness? Who’s hand was it? What was going to happen next? This paragraph does a really good job at drawing in the reader. I think by getting the reader to ask questions they are going to continue to read the book to try and answer them.
What was also very captivating about the beginning of this story was that it was accompanied by an illustration. The illustration I think is a good choice because people tend to look at the pictures before they read the words. So, I think that both an intriguing introductory paragraph and an illustration really sets it apart from other books. If I were a kid and I was reading this excerpt at night, I would certainly be on edge. I think that is the intent for the younger audience.
I thought it was interesting how Gaiman focuses on introducing the knife as the very first thing. Instead of describing the man Jack and how he’s stalking the people in the house like prey. I was wondering because Gaiman introduced the knife as something significant that it will be important later on in the book. I don’t see why else he would go through all that trouble to intricately describe the details of the knife right off the bat.
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