The Exquisite Corpse Adventure - This Week a "Wicked" Delight!

Author Gregory Maguire of "Wicked" Fame
Pens Episode Five of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure!
With a Delightful Illustration by Chris Van Dusen!

If you have been busy turkey roasting and holiday shopping, take a break and read the latest rollicking episode of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure with the young people in your life!

Make sure you also check out the NCBLA's Exquisite Corpse Adventure Educational Resource Center where you will find exciting book for your kids, as well as ideas for activities and conversations for you to share with the kids you live with at home and/or work with in your school and library!

And the NCBLA is so pleased that PBS's Reading Rockets has created a terrific companion project, The Exquisite Corpse Writing Prompt Challenge to enhance young people's writing experiences.

Remember to ask for Gregory Maguire's and Chris Van Dusen's latest books at your local library and book store!


Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation
by Gregory Maguire
(for adults who love children's books and who love Maurice Sendak!)

The Circus Ship
written and illustrated by
Chris Van Dusen
(for children and parents to read and share together!)

To read all The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Episodes, go to:

http://www.read.gov/exquisite-corpse/Book/#page/2/mode/2uphttp://www.read.gov/exquisite-corpse/

To find out what The Exquisite Corpse Adventure is all about, and to find educational support materials to help you expand your child’s literacy and literary experience, go to:

http://www.thencbla.org/Exquisite_Corpse/exquisite_home.html

Young Readers Center Opens at Library of Congress

Center Is First in Library's History for Young People

The Library of Congress, for the first time in its history, has a space devoted to the reading interests of children and teens in its historic Thomas Jefferson Building. On Oct. 23, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington welcomed a group of young people, parents, and others to the new Young Readers Center. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and her three children and Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) and his son helped open the new center.

M.T. Anderson, who writes books for both children and teens, was the special guest author. He is the writer of such acclaimed and popular books as "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing" and "Me, All Alone, at the End of the World."

Visitors to the Young Readers Center can choose to read a book from an up-to-date collection of noncirculating titles; they can browse the web’s kid-friendly sites; and they can attend programs especially designed for young readers. The center’s media room also provides an opportunity for visitors to view webcasts of young adult and children’s authors who have appeared at the National Book Festival.

"We want you and other young readers to have a place where you can gain an introduction to the wonders of your nation’s library," said Billington to the children gathered in the center.

The Young Readers Center is located in Room G 31, ground floor, of the Thomas Jefferson Building at the corner of First Street and Independence Ave. S.E. It is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and is closed on all federal holidays.

The new Young Readers Center is one of many programs administered by the Center for the Book. The Center for the Book also oversees the new LOC website www.read.gov, which provides reading resources especially for kids and teens, as well as adults, educators, and parents. A highlight of the site is the exclusive episodic story called "The Exquisite Corpse Adventure," a joint reading outreach project with the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance. A new episode and illustration from some of the nation's best authors and illustrators for young people (including M.T. Anderson!) are being posted on Read.Gov every two weeks. Coordinating educational and resource materials are available at: http://www.thencbla.org/Exquisite_Corpse/exquisite_home.html.

Read more about the Young Readers Center.

Photos courtesy of Barry Wheeler, Library of Congress.

The Exquiste Corpse Adventure Illustrations Inspire Kids to Create Their Own Art!

The Exquisite Corpse Adventure:
Talk Art with Calef Brown!
Use The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Illustrations to Introduce Young People to Art in the Classroom and at Home!
... and read a brand new, never before published poem by Calef Brown!!

This week we discuss Calef Brown's boldly expressive illustration for Episode Three of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, "The Found Clue by Newbery Award winning author Kate Di Camillo in the NCBLA's Exquisite Corpse Adventure Educational Resource Center. Besides relating Caleb's illustration to the fine art tradition that uses clowns as a subject matter, we offer discussion questions and art activities for kids to do at home and in classrooms. And Calef Brown unveils one of his previously unpublished poems so that you can share it with the young people in your life.


The "Talk Art" articles in the NCBLA's ED Resource Center are not just for art teachers- they are also for parents, homeschoolers, classroom teachers, and librarians, anyone interested in exploring art with children and teens, especially when art and music budgets are being cut in schools systems across the country.

In The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Educational Resource Center you will also find a wonderful "read more about it" book recommendations, classroom writing activities, and discussion questions brought to you by the faculty and graduate students at Dominican University's Butler Children's Literature Center!


Find the NCBLA's The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Educational Resource Center, at:
http://www.thencbla.org/Exquisite_Corpse/exquisite_home.html

Talk Art Pages with Calef Brown, at:
http://www.thencbla.org/Exquisite_Corpse/exquisite_ep3.html#talkart_ep3

Talk Art Pages with Chris Van Dusen, at:
http://www.thencbla.org/Exquisite_Corpse/exquisite_ep1.html#talk%20art

Talk Art Pages with James Ransome, at:
http://www.thencbla.org/Exquisite_Corpse/exquisite_ep2.html#talk%20art%202

Find Dominican University's Butler Children's Literature Center, at:

http://www.dom.edu/butler

And be sure to ask for Calef Brown's new books-Flamingos on the Roof and Soup for Breakfast at your local library and bookstore!!

Exquiste Corpse Adventure News!!!

View the
The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Webcast
Exquisite Presentation at the 2009 Library of Congress National Book Festival Featuring E.C.A. Contributors- Jon Scieszka, Kate Di Camilla, Nikki Grimes, Megan McDonald, Shannon Hale, and Steven Kellogg!

Illustration ©2009 Chris Van Dusen

If you were unable to attend the Center for the Book and the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance Exquisite Corpse Adventure launch event this September at the Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington DC, you can watch a podcast of this rollicking event at:
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4648

Future episodes of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure will be written and illustrated by this wily, witty bunch of young people's authors and illustrators:

M.T. Anderson, Natalie Babbitt, Calef Brown, Susan Cooper, Kate Di Camillo, 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.

Read the first episodes of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure at:

http://www.read.gov/exquisite-corpse/

And make sure you check out the NCBLA's The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Educational Resource Center which we have designed for parents, family member, teachers, and librarians to help you help your kids read and write better! The resource center includes book suggestions, discussion questions, activity ideas, and art projects all inspired by the episodes in The Exquisite Corpse Adventure!

Find the NCBLA's The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Educational Resource Center at:http://www.thencbla.org/Exquisite_Corpse/exquisite_home.html