Murder on the Libs

Here is something entertaining and also an activity to pass the time. "Murder on the Libs" is a word game that's a take on the famous word game called "Mad Libs". You are most likely already familiar with this word fill-in game. Basically put, there is a story or text that contains blank spaces where words are purposefully left out. In this "phrasal template" word game, you have one reader and a bunch of writers. (Think of this as a group of your friends and yourself coming up with jokes for a night of comedy or for an episode of a television sitcom.) You are the reader and you ask your friends--the writers--to give you those missing words.

What words are the writers, your friends, giving to you anyway? Why, it's the word the empty space is asking for. Use these words to fill in the blank spaces. The reader--that's you--is collecting these words starting from the first empty space and then the next, and next, and so forth. The word might be a noun, adjective, name of a person, verb, etc. When you've gotten all your words, you read the story or text using the words selected back to your friends. That's all there is to it.

Each link below (click the title of the story) includes two pages. On the first page is a helpful list of all the words you will be needing. On the second page is the story itself. (It's best not to look already at the story so there is a pleasant surprise when you read the story aloud when you're done.) You can print out the story (available in the pdf format) or read it right from the screen.

Monsieur Poirot

Reacquaint yourself with Poirot. However, it's in a different style because you choose the words.

Meet Miss Marple

How well do you know Miss Marple from St. Mary Mead? Learn more about her, but in your own words instead!