For the month of August, I'll be participating in the NEWTs (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests) Readathon, hosted by BookRoast. It's the second in her series of Magical Readathons for the year. I participated in the OWLs earlier this year, wherein I read books to qualify for this month's reading. The ultimate goal is to identify and read in the prompts in order to attain a wizarding career.
Each career has a specific set of courses that are required along with the levels that are required to be met for each. A is for Acceptable, E is Exceeds Expectations, and O is for Outstanding. These must be achieved in order. Thus to achieve an O, one must first complete the books for levels A and E.
As mentioned, in order to take a NEWTs exam, you must have passed your OWL in that subject. This was how I fared for that examination set:
| Magical Readathon – OWLs | ||||
| Read | Course | Requirement | Title | Author |
| x | Ancient Runes | Retelling | Ever Alice | HJ Ramsay |
| x | Arithmancy | More than 1 author | The Murmur of Bees | Sofia Segovia |
| x | Astronomy | “Star” in the Title | Where the Forest Meets the Stars | Glendy Vandereh |
| x | Care of MC | Land Animal on Cover | The Museum of Extraordinary Things | Alice Hoffman |
| x | Charms | Adult Work | Evidence of the Affair | Taylor Jenkins Reid |
| Defence DA | Title Starts with R | |||
| x | Divination | Set in the future | The Book of the Unnamed Midwife | Meg Elison |
| x | Herbology | Plant on Cover | Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet | Charlie N. Holmberg |
| x | Hx of Magic | Pub. 2009 or earlier | The Joy Luck Club | Amy Tan |
| x | Muggle Studies | Contemporary | The Upside of Falling Down | Rebekah Crane |
| x | Potions | Sequel | The Marvelous Land of Oz | L. Frank Baum |
| Transfiguration | Red Cover | |||
| 83.3% | 10 / 12 = Outstanding (9+) | |||
Based on my OWLs performance, I am eligible to take 10 out of the 12 NEWTs. All safe Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. This combination of NEWT possibilities allows me to work towards one of nine different careers.
| Possible Professions: | NEWTs Needed | ||||
| Astronomer | Arithmancy (O) | Astronomy (O) | Hx of Magic (A) | ||
| Aurologist | Astronomy (E) | Divination (E) | |||
| Broommaker | Arithmancy (E) | Herbology (E) | Charms (A) | ||
| Herbologist | Herbology (O) | Potions (E) | Care of MC (A) | ||
| Journalist / Writer | Hx of Magic (E) | Muggle Studies (A) | A in 1 add’l subject | ||
| Magizoologist | Care of MC (O) | Charms (E) | Herbology (E) | ||
| Potioneer | Potions (O) | Herbology (E) | Arithmancy (A) | Care of MC (A) | |
| Seer | Divination (O) | ||||
| Wandmaker | Herbology (O) | Care of MC (E) | Charms (A) | ||
My highest priority will be working toward the career of Magizoologist. Thus, I need an O in Care of Magical Creatures, and E in Charms, and an E in Herbology, for a total of seven books. However, as is befitting my Ravenclaw nature, I'll also be working to achieve grades in as many other courses as I can manage. Because I like options. Thus, my TBR reaches beyond the prompt requirements set for the Magizoologist career path.
As such, here is my current TBR for the NEWTs Readathon:
| Magical Readathon – NEWTs | ||||
| Read | Course | Requirement | Title | Author |
| Ancient Runes | Recommended by a friend | |||
| Book written in past tense | ||||
| Been on TBR for ages | ||||
| Arithmancy | Ends on an even page # | 100 Days of Sunlight | Abbie Emmons | |
| A standalone | An Ocean of Minutes | Thea Kim | ||
| Longer than 350 pages | Tidelands | Philippa Gregory | ||
| Astronomy | Moon on cover or in title | When the Moon Was Ours | Anna-Marie McLemore | |
| “Night” in title or series name | Night | Elie Wiesel | ||
| Sci-Fi or Stars on cover | The Book of Etta | Meg Elison | ||
| x | Care of MC | Book that starts with A | The Art of Taxidermy | Sharon Kernot |
| Under 300 pages | The Multiplication of Elmer Whit | Karsen Kipp | ||
| Bird on the cover | Postcards for a Songbird | Rebekah Crane | ||
| x | Charms | Gorgeous cover | The Gillespie County Fair | Marc Hess |
| Under 150 pages | Animal Farm | George Orwell | ||
| Paperback book | ||||
| Defence DA | Black under the dust jacket | |||
| First book you remember | The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo | Taylor Jenkins Reid | ||
| Written by Eng. Author or set in England | ||||
| Divination | A white book | Educated | Tara Westover | |
| Short story or collection of short stories | ||||
| Last book borrowed or bought | ||||
| x | Herbology | Audiobook or green cover | The Book of Dreams | Nina George |
| 350-390 pages | The Book Charmer | Karen Hawkins | ||
| Flower on the cover | The Husband’s Secret | Liane Moriarty | ||
| Hx of Magic | Fantasy | Rebel of the Sands | Alwyn Hamilton | |
| Includes a map | Shadow and Bone | Leigh Bardugo | ||
| Reread a favorite or read a classic | ||||
| Muggle Studies | Cover with actual photo element | Believe Me | Eddie Izzard | |
| Set in our real world | ||||
| Written by a person of color | ||||
| Potions | Friend’s favorite book | Anne of Green Gables (audio) | L.M. Montgomery | |
| Book in Hogwarts house color | This Tender Land | William Kent Krueger | ||
| Starts with a prologue | Spellslinger | Sebastien de Castell | ||
| Transfiguration | LGBTQA+ representation | |||
| Not a first in a series | ||||
| Over 500 pages | ||||
| Restricted Section | Replaces any other prompt | Spellslinger | Sebastien de Castell | |
| 8.1% | ||||
As you can see, I have already completed three of the prompts, garnering myself As in Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, and Herbology. I am currently working on my A in Potions and my E in Herbology. I expect I'll have those finished by the end of the weekend.
Why Potions you say? Well...I'm constantly listening to an audiobook. Unfortunately, the books I have set for my Magizoologist prompts are not available through my library or Prime Reads as audio selections, so I went with what was available at the time.
Now...since one read-a-thon is never enough, I'll also be participating in Bout of Books from August 19th to August 25th.
The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, Twitter chats, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 26 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books teamBout of Books is one of the first read-a-thons I ever participated in and it's one of my favorites. It should also (hopefully) help me boost my August reading so that I can get through all of these NEWTs I'm attempting to tackle. I'll be setting my individual goals for BoB when it gets a bit closer.
It will be a busy, but fun month. Do you have any read-a-thons or other fun reading events you're participating in that I should know about?
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