I’m taking part in another challenge, one that is super unique and fun. It’s by the lovely CW @ artfromafriend and their fellow bloggers at The Quiet Pond.

Pondathon is a story-driven readathon. Now you might be asking how a story-driven readathon works.  Basically, your reading books give you points for the number of pages read or other conditions depending on which team you pick. Your reading helps certain characters in the story fight against a dark force that has invaded their home.

CW has lots of options for teams, for example, there are teams for blogging, reading, buddy reading and more. You also get to create your own character. It’s super amazing.

I decided to be on Team Xiaolong, where you earn points by reading  For every 10 pages/15 minutes (of the total time on the audiobook) that you read, you gain 1 point. You also get points for the books you finish.

Here is more information below.

What is the Pondathon?

The Pondathon is a co-operative and story-driven readathon hosted and run by CW from The Quiet Pond. The aim of the Pondathon is to read books and collect points to protect the friends over at The Quiet Pond from the encroaching malevolent forces that threaten our friends in the forest.

Have fun participating in the Pondathon readathon by joining one of five teams, each with a unique way to collect points and signing up! You can also follow the story of the Pondathon as it unfolds, and participants can also complete ‘side quests’ during the readathon to collect extra points. The readathon takes place from January 24th 2020 to March 7th 2020. More information about the readathon can be found here.

Information about Joining the Pondathon

1. To join the Pondathon, simply sign up anytime between January 18th 2020 to March 5th 2020.
2. Choose a team, create your own animal character for the Pondathon and create a character card!
3. Create a blog post, bookstagram post, booktube video, Twitter thread, or whatever medium you wish, with ‘#Pondathon’ in the title or your tweet. Share the character you have created and your character card!
4. Link back to this post so that others can find this readathon and join in.

Share your updates on your blog/bookstagram/booktube and social media. You are more than welcome to tag @thequietpond or @artfromafriend on Twitter or Instagram in all your updates! We’d love to see all of the beautiful and awesome characters that you create!

My Pond Character

Asna has dreamed since she was a little girl about becoming an archer. At first she was too shy to even try it, especially since some other creatures told her she needed hands to hold a bow.

She spent most of her childhood reading and playing games about archery, and she picked up on a lot of old stories and lore during her reading.

One day she decided to face her fears and tried to find a teacher to help her with her dream, but when no one would teach her she decided to teach herself. Now she an amazing archer who teaches little fish with big dreams. 

She never gave up on her love of reading through and can usually be found with a bow in one hand and a book in the other.

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My Pondathon TBR

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Frostfire by Jamie Smith

A story of a girl who must face a mountain.  Sabira is chosen to climb the mountain that’s important to her village and get a piece of a glacier that will supposedly grant her magical powers. But when an avalanche traps her on the glacier she must use her wits to face the mountain’s secrets. I loved this cover and wanted to read another book about winter. I’ve borrowed this from my local library.

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The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis.

After drinking some enchanted hot chocolate a dragon becomes a girl who wants to learn about chocolate making. This book just sounded so cute I had to put it on my list. I’ve been wanting to read it for a while and decided this challenge would be a good time. I’ve borrowed this book from my local library.

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Crown of Coral and Pearl by Mara Rutherford

Stepping outside my middle-grade comfort zone and reading at least one YA for the challenge. May or may not get through it, depends on the content. But I’ve started reading it and like the premise so far, its about twin girls who are waiting to see who is going to be chosen for the next princess of the land that rules their island. But things get more complicated, lots of court intrigue, and plots I’m thinking.   I’ve borrowed this digitally from my local library.

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Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto

Pheonix riders and fierce queens, this is a YA I’ve heard a lot of buzz about. Sisterhood seems to be another big theme in this one so that’s pretty interesting too. It looks like two sets of sisters come up in the plot, so I’m really interested to see how those connections play out and form the plot. I’ve borrowed this from my local library.

The sequel Heart of Flames is coming out coming February 11, 2020, from Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster.

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Give and Take by Elly Swartz

Maggie is a successful trapshooter, but when a family member dies, Maggie begins to fill the hole that has been left in her heart with things. After reading Finding Perfect by Elly Swartz and seeing what a good job she did with writing a character with OCD, I want to read her other work.

These aren’t all the books I’m looking forward to taking on for the Pondathon, this however is a good start. And thanks again to @artfromafriend for hosting this lovely readathon.