About the Exquisite Corpse Adventure
Ever heard of an Exquisite Corpse? It's not what you might think. An Exquisite Corpse is an old game in which people write a phrase on a sheet of paper, fold it over to conceal part of it and pass it on to the next player to do the same. The game ends when someone finishes the story, which is then read aloud.
Our "Exquisite Corpse Adventure" works this way: Jon Scieszka, the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, has written the first episode, which is "pieced together out of so many parts that it is not possible to describe them all here, so go ahead and just start reading!" He has passed it on to a cast of celebrated writers and illustrators, who must eventually bring the story to an end.
Every two weeks, there will be a new episode and a new illustration. The story will conclude a year from now. To get bi-weekly updates with new Exquisite Corpse Adventure chapters, click on the subscribe link 
at the top of the page. "This story starts with a train rushing through the night...." No one knows where or how it will end!
Episode 1
Contributed by Jon Scieszka
Illustration by: Chris Van Dusen
HTML version »
Episode 2
Contributed by Katherine Paterson
Illustration by: James Ransome
HTML version »
Episode 3
Contributed by Kate_DiCamillo
Illustration by: Calef Brown
HTML version »
coming November 6,2009
Episode 4
Contributed by Susan Cooper
Illustration by: Timothy Basil Ering
The Exquisite Corpse Adventure is a project of the Center for the Book and the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance.
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Reading Rockets and AdLit.org are offering K-12 students the chance to have some writing fun of their own with the Exquisite Prompt challenge.
The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance and the Butler Center for Children’s Literature at Dominican University have developed a companion educational resource center to support “The Exquisite Corpse Adventure.”
National Ambassador for Young People's Literature http://childrensbook
ambassador.com/
