We like to read books, but it’s sometimes hard to find new books to try. You know that feeling, when you are standing in a library and staring at hundreds of books, and not able to narrow it down to a couple of books (or fifty books) that you want to take home.
Without some prompting, I tend to read the same kind of books over and over again – and that’s not great. I have a happier reading experience when I branch out to read a diversity of different ideas, different people, different places.
So I like to do reading challenges!
We’ve talked about reading challenges on our podcast: Reading With Libraries. And the basic idea is simple: there are a bunch of prompts for you to find a book. They can be really complicated (find a book with a minor character who has a middle name of Archer), but generally are easier – something like find a book with a red cover, find a book with a leaf on the cover. You read the book, and yay! You are a success!
We have set up a challenge for 2020, and made it a little extra fun. The Friends of Kitten Academy Book Challenge is on Goodreads. You can click on the link on the front page to join: “Please join this group to view the discussion boards. ” Or send me an email at mary @ cmle.org, and I’ll just add you in to the group.
We are friends of the kitten foster internet group Kitten Academy! And we are big readers, and fans of books, so have set up a challenge for KA-related book exploration. We want everyone to enjoy a book-filled year of reading!
(Membership in Kitten Academy is not required; and you don’t need to read a single kitten-themed book all year. We just want to add a fun element to our reading, and to help support the mission of kitten foster parents and their hard-working shelter.)
If you want to enjoy the KA kittens and momcats, you can check out their website: Kitten.Academy, and you can watch them 24/7 on their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC83R…. You have hours of fun ahead!
And of course, if you would like to adopt a momcat or a kitten, you can definitely do that right on their website! They work with the animal shelter the Danbury Animal Welfare Society to ensure all the kittens and momcats find loving homes: https://daws.org/.
We have three groups of reading prompts: Faculty, Classes, and Community. Each Faculty member (adult cats, who belong to the KA family) has a prompt. Each group of kittens who come to the Academy are called a Class, and they all have a class name. (Thirty three of them, so far!) And the community of supporters on Patreon and Discord and YouTube are very active in discussions of kittens – and every other topic! So some of the main discussion topics are given as prompts.
If you are a KA patreon supporter, chatting on their Discord channel, then you understand why reading a book for the Faculty member Acro would mean finding a book about being found in the woods OR finding a book about dishes/dishwashers. And if that context is meaningless to you – not a problem! You can still find a book that fits the prompt, enjoy it, and have a happy book experience.
There are dozens of prompts to help you find good books – start looking at them today!
The Rules
1. ) Books can be read in any format: paper, ebook, audio. Content counts, format is flexible.
2. ) Only use a book to fulfill one challenge prompt
3. ) You do not have to read a book for EVERY prompt – they are here to give us some KA-related fun in helping to find new books.
4.) Read a book for each prompt until you have finished them all; then you can go back and double up to hit higher Reading Levels.
5. ) Do you think the book fits the prompt? Then great: it fits. We are not being overly judgy here – just find some books to enjoy.
Reading Levels To Achieve:
– New Kitten Level: read 12 books before Dec. 31, 2020
– Graduate Kitten Level: read 24 books
– Adjunct Faculty Level: read 50 books
– Faculty Level: read 100 books
– Headmistress/Headmaster (Smokey/Acro) Level: read 150 books
You can achieve any level here! It’s just fun to read together, and to share books that are related to the KA prompts. Everyone has their own level of reading fun, and as long as you are here to support books – and kittens! – you are absolutely on the right track!
Enjoy your reading! Share your books, comment admiringly on other’s choices, have book fun with the group!