The Exquisite Corpse Adventure

Take twenty top kids’ authors and illustrators. Give them free rein to take turns creating a zany progressive story. What could possibly happen next?

It all starts with a train rushing through the night. . . . Well, actually, it starts when Jon Scieszka, former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, writes a cliff-hanger episode and passes it on to the next member of a cast of celebrated writers and illustrators,who continues the story and passes it on. And what happens between episodes one and twenty-seven? Think werewolves and mad scientists, a talking pig, plenty of explosions, a blue Star Wars lunchbox, two meatballs, a whole army of villains and varmints, and one just plain bad egg. Not to mention our heroes, eleven-year-old twins Nancy and Joe, raised in a circus, who must find the pieces of a Top-Secret Robot in order to rescue their parents before . . . tick, tick, tick! A collaboration between the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance and the Library of Congress's Center for the Book, The Exquisite Corpse Adventure originated as a national literacy project for young people and helped launch the READ.gov website.

• Contributors include two Children's Book Ambassadors
• Originally published as a serial on the Library of Congress website www.read.gov
• Proceeds from the book benefit the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance

About the Author

With exquisite contributions by: M. T. Anderson Natalie Babbitt Calef Brown Susan Cooper Kate DiCamillo Chris Van Dusen Timothy Basil Ering Jack Gantos Nikki Grimes Shannon Hale Steven Kellogg Gregory Maguire Megan McDonald Patricia and Fredrick McKissack Linda Sue Park Katherine Paterson (National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature) James Ransome Jon Scieszka (former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature) Lemony Snicket