It was my eleventh birthday. I’d gotten a new bike from my father… I really wanted to ride it…
-- Rose (Prologue)

Importance: Here, Rose sets the stage for the events and the novel to come. She recalls her eleventh birthday party where she received a bike from her father. She could not wait for the party to end so she could go out and go riding. It is because of this she comes upon the hole and falls in.

There I was, this tiny little thing at the bottom of the hole, lying on my back in the palm of a giant metal hand.
-- Rose (Prologue)

Importance: When Rose wakes up in the morning after falling in the hole, she realizes the hole is square shaped. She also realizes her father and some firemen are far above her, preparing to raise her out of the hole. When she looks at pictures of the incident later...