I have reviewed some books from the "official" Mad Libs series, but creative folks have come up with their own variations. In this case, the folks at Thistles and Biscuits have created 10 Mad Libs based on literature likely to be familiar to homeschoolers, such as Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, and stories of Sherlock Holmes. Literary Mad Libs is available as a free PDF from their website.
Each Literary Mad Lib is one page of a story. These stories were written to mimic the style of the original works but are not copied from them. They are so well done that I had to verify they were not copied from the source works.
You need two or more people to play, so a leader can see the Mad Lib while others have no idea what it's about. Blanks are inserted in place of some words, usually one or two per sentence. Under each blank, small print identifies a part of speech or another description of the type of word needed to fill the blank, such as "part of the body, plural" or "silly exclamation." The leader asks the others to write down what each blank calls for in order. There's no discussion or sharing at this point. When this is done, the leader reads the Mad Lib, inserting each player's list of words in the designated blanks. The results are usually hilarious.
Most of the blanks ask for parts of speech, such as a noun, an adjective, an -est adjective, a preposition, or a past tense verb. That makes Mad Libs particularly useful for grammar review at any point after students have already learned the eight parts of speech. Adults are likely to enjoy them as well, so make this a family or small group activity if possible.
Literary Mad Libs are perfect for homeschooling families who are likely to appreciate the literary contexts and how their inserted words "corrupt" or enhance the stories.
