In this side quest for the Pondathon you are helping Gen plant saplings to do this you must complete the following objectives

Objectives:

• Read a book by a Black author for Black History Month.
• This quest is repeatable. (Repeating this quest is optional.)
• Those who complete the quest may choose their quest reward. However, colours of the reward are random.
• Bonus: Read at least three books by Black authors during the quest period to earn the Sleepy Sapling badge for your character card!
• Secret Achievement: Read a book by a Black author with one of the following themes: friendship, family, community, nature.

Here are pictures of the Quest Reward Items

Here are a few ideas of the books I’m going to read for this side quest to celebrate Black History Month.

1) White Smoke

I’ve been looking for some good horror for awhile and the premise of this is unbeatable, it is perfect for this side quest! A good psychological thriller with issues of race addressed as well.

Marigold is running from ghosts. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting her, but a move with her newly blended family from their small California beach town to the embattled Midwestern city of Cedarville might be the fresh start she needs. Her mom has accepted a new job with the Sterling Foundation that comes with a free house, one that Mari now has to share with her bratty ten-year-old stepsister, Piper.

The renovated picture-perfect home on Maple Street, sitting between dilapidated houses, surrounded by wary neighbors has its . . . secrets. That’s only half the problem: household items vanish, doors open on their own, lights turn off, shadows walk past rooms, voices can be heard in the walls, and there’s a foul smell seeping through the vents only Mari seems to notice. Worse: Piper keeps talking about a friend who wants Mari gone.

But “running from ghosts” is just a metaphor, right?

As the house closes in, Mari learns that the danger isn’t limited to Maple Street. Cedarville has its secrets, too. And secrets always find their way through the cracks.

The theme I think this is going to work with is community

Amazon: White Smoke

2) Operation Sisterhood

Bo and her mom always had their own rhythm. But ever since they moved to Harlem, Bo’s world has fallen out of sync. She and Mum are now living with Mum’s boyfriend Bill, his daughter Sunday, the twins, Lili and Lee, the twins’ parents…along with a dog, two cats, a bearded dragon, a turtle, and chickens. All in one brownstone! With so many people squished together, Bo isn’t so sure there is room for her. 

A lovely big group who I think will hit the right notes the family theme for the side quest.

Amazon: Operation Sisterhood

3) The Jumbies

I’ve been wanting to read this one for awhile but I’ve never gotten around to it. I think it with prompt of friendship.

Corinne La Mer isn’t afraid of anything. Not scorpions, not the boys who tease her, and certainly not jumbies. They’re just tricksters parents make up to frighten their children. Then one night Corinne chases an agouti all the way into the forbidden forest. Those shining yellow eyes that followed her to the edge of the trees, they couldn’t belong to a jumbie. Or could they?
 
When Corinne spots a beautiful stranger speaking to the town witch at the market the next day, she knows something unexpected is about to happen. And when this same beauty, called Severine, turns up at Corinne’s house, Corinne is sure that danger is in the air. She soon finds out that bewitching her father, Pierre, is only the first step in Severine’s plan to claim the entire island for the jumbies. Corinne must call on her courage and her friends and learn to use ancient magic she didn’t know she possessed to stop Severine and to save her island home.

Amazon: The Jumbies

I really think I’ll be able to do this side quest even though I was not able to do the last one, I’m out of my book slump and ready to read, and I can’t wait to include more Black authors in that lineup!