Attention Grabber: The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda

With so many books to read, and consequently so many reviews to write, I decided to give my Attention Grabber feature a break for a while. For those of you who are new to The Book zone, Attention Grabber was my weekly feature where I post what I think is a great opening paragraph to a book, the sort of opening that pulls young readers in and hooks them from the start. 

In the past fortnight I have received a couple of emails asking for more and so here it is. The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda seemed like the perfect book with which to restart the feature, as I mentioned in my on Tuesday how I was grabbed by the opening chapter, so here it is for you:

'There used to be more of us. I'm certain of this. Not enough to fill a sports stadium or even a movie theatre, but certainly more than what's left today. Truth is, I don't think there's any of us left. Except me. It's what happens when you're a delicacy. When you're craved. You go extinct.

Eleven years ago, one was discovered in my school. A kindergarten student, on her first day. She was devoured almost immediately. What was she thinking? Maybe the sudden (and it's always sudden) loneliness at home drove her to school under some misbegotten idea that she'd find companionship. The teacher announced nap time, and the little tyke was left standing alone on the floor clutching her teddy bear as her classmates leaped feet first towards the ceiling. At that point, it was over for her. Over. She might as well have taken out her fake fangs and prostrated herself for the inevitable feasting. Her classmates stared down wide-eyed from above: Hello, what have we here? She started to cry, they tell me, bawl her eyes out. The teacher was the first to get to her.'