Hi everyone! I’m here today for a very exciting reason – the OWLs start tomorrow! I’ve been excited about this readathon since August when I took part in the NEWTs for the first time. It feels great to be doing it all the right way round this year and participating in the OWLs first!
The Ordinary Wizarding Levels are inspired by the exams taken in Harry Potter. It’s a month long readathon that runs throughout April, and the goal is to pursue your chosen career in the Wizarding World. In order to pass your exams and graduate in your chosen subject, all you need to do is….READ! Sound good? Sound confusing? The video below from the host of the readathon should help everything make sense a little easier.
It might help to check the website for more information too and read the induction on the Magical Readathons! I’ve also included the Careers guide and prompts letter below.
Wizarding Careers Guides 2020
O.W.L.s letter and prompts
If you want to join, you choose a career, find the list of classes you must take to pursue that career under ‘OWLs’, and then refer to the prompts letter to find the corresponding prompt to your classes. Once you have your prompts, you just have to find books that fit your prompts and you’re ready to take part!
The career I chose this year is a magizoologist! This career means I have to pass just 4 OWLs, which means I may have enough time to also complete a course (listed at the end of the Careers Guidebook). My 4 prompts are below along with the books I have chosen to read.
Care of Magical Creatures – Hippogriffs: creature with a beak on the cover
Ronan Lynch is a dreamer. He can pull both curiosities and catastrophes out of his dreams and into his compromised reality.
Jordan Hennessy is a thief. The closer she comes to the dream object she is after, the more inextricably she becomes tied to it.
Carmen Farooq-Lane is a hunter. Her brother was a dreamer . . . and a killer. She has seen what dreaming can do to a person. And she has seen the damage that dreamers can do. But that is nothing compared to the destruction that is about to be unleashed. . . .
I’ve had this sat around since the release, so I’m really looking forward to delving back into this world!
Charms – Lumos Maxima: white cover
Frank Li is a high school senior living in Southern California. Frank’s parents emigrated from Korea, and have pretty much one big rule for Frank – he must only date Korean girls.
But he’s got strong feelings for a girl in his class, Brit – and she’s not Korean. His friend Joy Song is in the same boat and knows her parents will never accept her Chinese American boyfriend, so they make a pact: they’ll pretend to date each other in order to gain their freedom.
Frank thinks fake-dating is the perfect plan, but it leaves him wondering if he ever really understood love – or himself – at all.
I tried to read this book last September, but I went through a bit of a hard time and only managed to read the first chapter. Now seems like a good a time as any to try it gain!
Herbology – Mimbulus Mimbletonia: title starts with an (i)
For Angel Rahimi, life is only about one thing: The Ark – a pop-rock trio of teenage boys who are currently taking the world by storm. Being part of The Ark’s fandom has given her everything – her friendships, her dreams, her place in the world.
Jimmy Kaga-Ricci owes everything to The Ark too. He’s their frontman – and playing in a band is all he’s ever dreamed of doing. It’s just a shame that recently everything in his life seems to have turned into a bit of a nightmare.
Because that’s the problem with dreaming – eventually, inevitably, real life arrives with a wake-up call. And when Angel and Jimmy are unexpectedly thrust together, they will discover just how strange and surprising facing up to reality can be.
This isn’t something I’d usually jump for, but it’s Alice Oseman and I will read everything she ever writes.
Potions – Shrinking Solution: book under 150 pages
A young royal from the far north is sent south for a political marriage. Alone and sometimes reviled, she has only her servants on her side. This evocative debut chronicles her rise to power through the eyes of her handmaiden, at once feminist high fantasy and a thrilling indictment of monarchy.
I was struggling to find a short book on my TBR that is under 150 pages, but I stumbled across this one! I’ve ordered a copy which hopefully won’t take too long to arrive.
BONUS course: Animagus Training
Arithmancy – Read a book outside of your favourite genre
Rosemary has lived in Brixton all her life, but everything she knows is changing. Only the local lido, where she swims every day, remains a constant reminder of the past and her beloved husband George. Kate has just moved and feels adrift in a city that is too big for her. She’s on the bottom rung of her career as a local journalist, and is determined to make something of it.
So when the lido is threatened with closure, Kate knows this story could be her chance to shine. But for Rosemary, it could be the end of everything. Together they are determined to make a stand, and to prove that the pool is more than just a place to swim – it is the heart of the community.
One of the books on my TBR outside of my comfort zone is this one – it’s an adult contemporary, but it’s also about something I’m very passionate about (outdoor swimming!), so I’m excited to read it.
Transfiguration – Animagus lecture: book/series that includes shapeshifting
No one in modern-day Seoul believes in the old fables anymore, which makes it the perfect place to for Gu Miyoung and her mother to hide in plain sight. Mihoung is a Gumiho, a nine-tailed fox, who must eat the souls of men to survive. She feeds every full moon–eating the souls of men who have committed crimes, but have evaded justice. Her life is upended when she kills a dokkaebi, a murderous goblin, in the forest just to save the life of a stupid boy. But after Miyoung saves Jihoon’s life, the two develop a tenuous friendship that blooms into romance forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon’s.
It took me a while to find a book that includes shape-shifting, but my friend Sophie told me this one does! It’s been sat on my shelf since YALC last year, so it’ll be good if I can get to it.
Potions – already covered above!
I’ll be completing the bonus course if I manage to get through my OWLs quickly, so we’ll see!
Are you joining the magical readathon?
-Beth
May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽
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