The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Begins!!!!

The National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance

and the Library of Congress Launch

The Exquisite Corpse Adventure at the National Book Festival!!!

This story starts with a train rushing through the night.

The full moon lights the silver rails winding around dark mountains, through deep woods, and over steep gorges of jagged rock and one freezing cold rushing black mountain river...

.....exclaimed Jon Scieszka, The Library of Congress' Children's Book Ambassador, reading the very first episode of THE EXQUISITE CORPSE ADVENTURE to an audience of over 500 children and adults at the LOC's National Book Festival held yesterday on the National Mall. Joining Jon Scieszka on stage were NCBLA Board members and NCBLA friends, young people's authors--- Steven Kellogg, Megan McDonald, Nikki Grimes, Kate DiCamillo, and Shannon Hale!!! Introduced by Center for the Book Director John Cole all participated in an hour of friendly hi-jinks and engaging banter moderated by the National Children's Book's president Mary Brigid Barrett.

THE EXQUISITE CORPSE ADVENTURE is a progressive story game that children, teens, and adults can read together as it unfolds on the LOC's new website READ.gov. New episodes will appear every two weeks throughout the year, with the very last episode revealed at a special NCBLA/Center for the Book presentation at the Library of Congress' 2010 National Book Festival. The rollicking episodes are being written and illustrated by some of our nation's most talented young people's book writers and illustrators---

M. T. Anderson, Natalie Babbitt, Calef Brown, Susan Cooper, Kate DiCamillo, Timothy Basil Ering, Nikki Grimes, Shannon Hale, Daniel Handler aka Lemony Snicket, Steven Kellogg, Gregory Maguire,Megan McDonald, Patricia and Fredrick McKissack, Linda Sue Park, Katherine Paterson, James Ransome, Jon Scieszka, and Chris Van Dusen!

This extraordinary national reading outreach project jointly developed by the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress and the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, was conceived by NCBLA president Mary Brigid Barrett, with the encouragement and enlightened support of John Cole, the director of The Center for the Book-- all to promote the Library of Congress' amazing new website READ.gov, as well as to excite young people across the country to read and write more!!

Go to Read.Gov to read Jon Scieszka hilarious first episode and be sure to visit again in two weeks when Katherine Paterson takes up the story !!!!

And make sure that you check the NCBLA's new Exquisite Corpse Adventure Educational Resource Center, created by the NCBLA with our friends at the Butler Children's Literature Center at Dominican University, where you will find great ideas, great book suggestions, activities, discussion questions, and art appreciation concepts for every Exquisite Corpse episode to get kids and teens excited about reading and writing!!!