Pondathon II: A Round 1 Summary
A disclaimer – all of the Pondathon graphics were created by CW of The Quiet Pond and belong to her!
Hello friends! Instead of monthly wrap ups this year, I’m going to do Pondathon round wrap ups! If you are confused as to what the heck a Pondathon is, check out my intro post about it! Each round is ~roughly~ a month, so it’s basically the same thing. But instead of just sharing the books I read, I get to share the Pondathon quests I completed. And share my updated garden!! I’m excited. Round one has just finished so it’s time for my first wrap up.
BUT! FIRST! Since the Pondathon didn’t start until January 10th, I did read a few books before it started. Those were:
- Along the Saltwise Sea by A. Deborah Baker (excellent middle grade adventure)
- Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson (a new favorite book of mine!! Sabriel vibes)
- Tides of Mutiny by Rebecca Rode (pirates! standalone! whee!)
Okay NOW on to the readathon stuff.
Round 1 Pondathon Quests
This month we were able to choose asters, bluebells, lavender, or garden hedges as our reading rewards. Aren’t they cute??? I love them all of course, but I think my favorite design is the bluebells. Or maybe the lavender. Ahhh choosing favorites is too hard.
We also had an amazing side quest this month! Xiaolong asked us to help her flowers grow by reading to them (read the story in this post). Specifically she wanted us to read diverse books! And if we did, we were rewarded with planters and/or garden beds for our garden. Bonuses included reading three diverse books for a badge for our character card, and reading five for a sticker set for decoration.
And finally, we had a companion quest given to us by Racquel Marie – the author of Ophelia After All. Inspired by the book, our task was to create a “rose” to represent our favorite book. Our rose could be any sort of creative expression, so a drawing, poem, etc.
Books I Read
I love the idea of the side quest, so I challenged myself to ONLY read diverse books this month. Well, minus the first book I read for the Pondathon, which I read way too fast before the side quest post went up hahaha. I’m also trying to read my physical books, so I mostly chose from books I already owned. Also, we’re counting diverse books as those by an author with a marginalized identity (or identities) about characters with a marginalized identity (or identities). So here are the books that I read, along with a few brief details about each.
- Terciel & Elinor by Garth Nix (prequel to one of my fav books, Sabriel – necromancy! prophecies! discovering new lands!)
- Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire – read my review here! (mermaids! fat rep! dealing with trauma! girl gang!)
- Heartstopper: Volume One by Alice Oseman (cute AF comic about two boys falling in love!!)
- Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood (Jane Eyre retelling set in Ethiopia with creepy spirit/ghost things)
- The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith (a fantasy novel featuring a magical library – IN HELL! and also books that come to life??? and on page pan rep)
- Soft Science by Franny Choi (a poetry collection exploring queerness, Asian American identity, and femininity)
- A Clash of Steel by C.B. Lee (a sapphic Asian Treasure Island retelling!!! here is my review!)
- The Archive of the Forgotten by A.J. Hackwith (sequel to The Library of the Unwritten – my precious family of dead humans and muses and fallen angels and books!!)
- The God of Lost Words by A.J. Hackwith (the lovely finale to the Hell’s Library trilogy that began with The Library of the Unwritten)
- So Many Beginnings by Bethany C. Morrow (a retelling of Little Women, set in the 1860s following a Black family)
Since all of these (minus Terciel & Elinor) are diverse books, I completed both of the bonuses for Xiaolong’s side quest! That means I got a little badge to put on my character card, and a cute set of stickers for decoration. You’ll see them in a bit when I show my updated character and garden.
Companion Quest Rose
It should come as no surprise that for this companion quest, I chose to create a rose for my favorite series – the October Daye series. Yes, it’s by Seanan McGuire. In this series, there are creatures called “rose goblins.” I believe they’re actually described as looking somewhat like cats, but also like an actual rosebush. So very prickly and not fun to pet haha. I’ve always kind of imagined them more like hedgehogs though! So that’s the design I went with. And ta-da! Here it is! I’m pretty happy with how it turned out! And now I want one as a pet….
Character Card and Garden Update!
Here is my updated character card, and my garden! My card now includes the “Budding Friends” badge that I earned in Xiaolong’s side quest. My garden is missing one flower and one garden bed, but that’s because I submitted my last book right at the last minute haha. So I just hadn’t received my last rewards yet! I spent a long time organizing my garden and it was so much fun. I’m so looking forward to the next round, and adding even more!
What have you read this January? Have you been participating in the Pondathon as well?
I love seeing people putting their characters in their gardens! I, er, made my character a fish so it looks really weird if I try to put her in, lol. Also great book choices! I’m currently reading Seanan’s InCryptid series, I think I’ll need to give October Daye a try next. 🙂
hehehe yessss I’m living for the characters gardening!! aha I think I saw you put that on the discord – but I think we get some water stuff in one of the rounds! ahhh and I really gotta get to InCryptid! haha
Your garden is SO cute!! 😄 I spent yesterday starting to put mine together and I’m getting sorta proud of it! This has been such a fun readathon! 😄
eee thank you so much! it’s really the best readathon