Wrap Up: OWLs Magical Readathon | 2020

Y’all, this never happens to me: I finished a readathon early!! 😀

The OWLs Magical Readathon was a huge success for me this year. Because I couldn’t decide what career to pursue, I decided to do all the prompts for the challenge, and I completed them all! 😀 Now I can pursue whatever career I like for the NEWTs.

I still haven’t yet decided on a career. My top two are Mind Medic (requires reading 12 books for NEWTs) and Trader of Magical Tomes (requires reading 5 books for NEWTs).

I’ll make my decision in July, before the NEWTs start in August, because there’s no telling what my schedule will be like then, whether I’ll have more time on my hands (and can read more) or less.

I’ve also decided to pursue one of the extra training options, but again I couldn’t decide which I wanted to focus on: Animagus Training (so I can become a clumsy panda) or Magical Shop Management. So this is another reason I’m glad I completed all the OWLs. Now I can really do whatever I want!

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Well anyway, here’s how I did:

O.W.L.s are graded for total exams completed

Acceptable = 2 or more exams completed
Exceeds Expectations = 6 or more exams completed
Outstanding = 9 or more exams completed

Ancient Runes

Heart Rune: Heart on the cover or in the title

The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

I read the Penguin Little Black Classics edition, which contains the titular story and two others. This was my first time reading Poe’s work and I loved it. They were all like psychological thrillers, but the The Tell-Tale Heart was my favorite. It’s about a guy whose guilt gets to him for what he did to a blind, old man.

Required for: Mind Medic and Trader of Magical Tomes

Arithmancy

Magical qualities of #2 – balance/opposites: Read something outside your favorite genre

Long Bright River by Liz Moore, narr. by Allyson Ryan

I consider it a mystery (which is definitely outside my comfort zone) since it’s about a young woman who works as a cop and is trying to find her sister who suffers from a drug addiction. The story is slow-paced but engrossing. It touches on the opioid crisis in Philadelphia and corruption in the police force. The narrator of the audiobook did a great job with it.

Required for: Mind Medic, Animagus Training, and Magical Shop Management

Astronomy

Night classes: Read majority of this book when it’s dark outside

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

It’s about two guys who suffer near-death experiences and develop extraordinary abilities because of it. I consider it sci-fi. It was a really good read that quickly hooked me and made me want to try more of Schwab’s work.

Care of Magical Creatures

Hippogriffs: Creature with a beak on the cover

Spot & Dot by Henry Cole

This was a tough category for me because the book I planned to read — The Glass Magician by Caroline Stevermer — did not interest me at the time, so I started on a different topic and by the time I got back to this one, I wanted a quick read; so I went with this picture book that has a picture of a bird in the top window above the “D” in Dot.

Spot & Dot is a wordless picture book about a girl and a boy who team up to find the girl’s lost dog, but the story follows Spot, the cat, as it looks for the dog. It was a fun read.

Charms

Lumos Maxima: White cover

The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak

In contrast to Spot & Dot, this is a picture book without pictures; it’s my new favorite read. It’s silly and fun and one best read aloud. I know I will return to it again and again.

Required for: Mind Medic and Trader of Magical Tomes

Defense Against the Dark Arts

Grindylows: Book set at sea/coast

Hello, Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall (illus.)

A children’s picture book about the keeper of a lighthouse. I consider it historical fiction. The illustrations are great and at the end, Blackall gives some facts about lighthouses.

Required for: Mind Medic

Divination

Third eye: Assign numbers to your TBR and use a random number generator to pick your read

Oddly Normal, bk. 1 by Otis Frampton (illus.)

Oddly Normal, bk. 1 is book number 857 in my collection. I’d been meaning to read it for a while now, so I’m glad to have finally get to it. It’s a middle-grade fantasy graphic novel about a girl who doesn’t fit in because she is half witch. It was a decent read.

Herbology

Mimbulus mimbletonia: Title starts with M

The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas

I was craving a middle-grade fantasy, so I borrowed The Magic Thief from the library. I’d never heard of it before. It’s about a street urchin who becomes a magician’s apprentice after trying to steal the magician’s magic stone. It was a very compelling read that I enjoyed although I had a lot of issues with it.

Required for: Mind Medic

History of Magic

Witch hunts: Book featuring witches/wizards

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

The second novel in the Witches subseries of the Discworld series. It seems influenced by the Shakespeare play “Macbeth” and is about a duke driven mad by his guilt for murdering the king. Three witches try to protect the heir to the crown and set the country to rights. It was a fun read and I really enjoyed it although I thought it was a little too long.

Required for: Trader of Magical Tomes

Muggle studies

Book from a perspective of a muggle (contemporary)

Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares, narr. by Angela Goethals

I’m so happy that I finally got around to reading this. It’s the fourth novel in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, which is about the friendship between four girls who share a pair of pants. In this book, the girls have begun/are about to begin college. It was a sweet read, as always, but I much more prefer the first three books.

Required for: Mind Medic

Potions

Shrinking Solution: Book under 150 pages

The Madness of Cambyses by Herodotus, transl. by Tom Holland

This was about 50 or so pages and is about Cambyses, who was king of Persia and quite mad. He killed so many people. What I find most interesting, however, is how this is written. I couldn’t tell what’s true and what’s made up. It was like all I read was gossip about Cambyses.

Required for: Mind Medic and Animagus Training

Transfiguration

Animagus lecture: Book/series that includes shapeshifting

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (illus.)

Another new favorite; I can’t believe I waited so long to finally read it. It’s about a girl named Nimona who wants to become a villain, so she teams up with supervillain Lord Blackheart to be his sidekick. The story is fun and sweet. I loved it.

Required for: Mind Medic, Trader of Magical Tomes, and Animagus Training

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Overall performance on my O.W.L.s

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I PASSED!! 😀 😀

I did so damn good on my exams this year. Not only did I complete them all, I stuck pretty closely to the TBR I set for myself. This is something to celebrate. I shall give myself a prize. …maybe a book?

If you participated in this readathon, let me know how well you did below.

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