If you are familiar with the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, then you might know what the O.W.L.s are. If you don’t know, O.W.L. stands for “Ordinary Wizarding Level” and it is a type of exam. Like magical standardized testing, but without the sheets full of endless bubbles. It’s been a while since I’ve read the books, so I am not the best authority on all things O.W.L. related, but I know the general idea of it and this article is very helpful. Now obviously, in the muggle world we don’t take O.W.L.s because we don’t tend to study things like Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, etc. And while this is a shame, we can play a bit of pretend when it comes to Harry Potter. I, for one, love to wear my House colors on a regular basis and I love trying snacks based off of the books (since there are so many wonderful snacks in the wizarding world). But why would anyone want to pretend to take a test? That sounds awful, right? WRONG. Well, at least, in my opinion. I’d love to take a test at Hogwarts! That sounds like so much fun! And pretending to take a test at Hogwarts, while not the real deal, is in some ways even better (like, I don’t have to worry about my future riding on the results). So, the astonishingly wonderful, G, from the YouTube channel, Book Roast, came up with this wonder readathon based off of the O.W.L.s exams and it is going on right now in April. This is my first year doing it and I wasn’t planning to, but my awesome coworkers basically told me that I was going to do it and they are rarely wrong about things like this. I have had so much fun planning my reads for it and it’s very nice to feel connected to other readers during this time when you can’t really go out and connect with people. Now, I’m not going to go deep into explanations about how the readathon works, but I will link several resources and videos at the end of this post that will help you out. I’ll be sure to include the original O.W.L.s video from G, which explains how everything works better than I could. You probably wouldn’t want me to explain too much of it anyway because the odds are that I will get something wrong and then I’ll just be spreading misinformation. Basically though, you pick a wizard career (like Auror, Healer, Wandmaker, Hogwarts Professor, Librarian—there’s a whole guidebook full) and you want to work toward that career. There are twelve O.W.L. class “exams”, which are reading prompts. For example, for the class of Ancient Runes we are “studying” heart runes so you have to read a book with a heart on the cover or the word heart in the title. Depending on what career you are working toward you need to make sure you do certain classes so that you can pass your N.E.W.T.s in August (when there will be another readathon), which is, to my understanding, kind of like the ACT or SAT of Hogwarts. And I believe, to “pass” the readathon and get an A (which stands for Acceptable) you only have to read two books. To get an E (Exceeds Expectations) you have to read five. And I guess to get an O (for Outstanding) you have to do… more? Like all of them maybe? I’m not sure. You should watch the video. Anyway, now that you know what the O.W.L.s readathon is, let’s get down to business (to defeat the Huns…). For my very first year doing O.W.L.s I am aiming for the career of Magizoologist. So, yes, like a magical zoologist. It was a hard choice for me between this and Trader of Magical Tomes, since in real life I would like to do something similar to trading tomes. However, I went with Magizoologist because it sounds like fun and I think dragons are the best. So, the real reason I’m writing this post, apart from trying to get you to participate in the O.W.L.s readathon, is because I wanted to share my selected reading materials for my classes. In order to become a Magizoologist you need to pass the O.W.L.s for Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Herbology, and Potions. Care of Magical Creatures - Hippogriffs: creature with a beak on the cover. For this class I have chose to read Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto. This book is about a girl who gets to ride phoenixes and it has been on my TBR list since it was published. Also, I love the cover. Charms - Lumos Maxima: a white cover. Until about ten minutes ago I didn’t know what I wanted to read for this class, but then I got to looking at my Goodreads “want to read” shelf and I found a book that I’d love to read, that I get my hands on before the end of the month, and that has a mostly white cover. And that book is The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye. I have heard that this book is somewhat like the Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo, which you might recall I loved. Herbology - Mimbulus mimbletonia: title starts with an M. I picked up my read for this class yesterday and just finished it today. The book I went with for this one is My Faire Lady by Laura Wettersten. It is a contemporary romance that takes place in a Renaissance Faire. Normally, I tend to lean away from contemporary romances, but this one was kind of cute. I’ll review it soon. Potions - Shrinking Solution: book under 150 pages. I am going with Stuart Little by E.B. White for this class for two reasons. The first reason is that it fits this prompt and it looks like a cute book. The second and main reason is that it also fits one of the prompts for a reading challenge we are doing at one of my workplaces and that prompt is to read a book by an author who has the same birthday as you. E.B. White (who was born exactly 99 years before me) was the only author I could find who I actually want to read. In addition to my classes I am also taking a “dragon tamer training” course, or I will be if I have time. As one of my friends pointed out when I told her about this course, you can’t actually tame dragons. So… I guess it is a dragon care course really. The prompt for this was basically that you have to do extra research on dragons (read an extra book with dragons). Anyway, the book I am reading for this is actually a manga called Dragon Goes House-Hunting Vol. 2 by Kawo Tanuki, illustrated by Choco Aya. I don’t typically read manga because I am easily confused and trying to read a book backwards is challenging, but it is such a cute concept and I thought the first volume was adorable.
There are other prompts that I would like to read for if I have the time, but those are the main five books I will be trying to read in April. Helpful links for the O.W.L.s readathon: Book Roast O.W.L.s 2020 Announcement Video (which has tons more helpful links in the description so you should totally check that out) Book Roast Original O.W.L.s Announcement Video Magical Readathon Twitter: @MagicalReadthn (which has little events going on all the time where you can win points for your house!) Awesome Hogwarts House themed ambience tracks from Ambient Worlds Good luck and stay healthy!
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