The OWLs readathon is just about to start, and we have got a bunch of book suggestions
to help you with your challenges. But if you're new to this whole concept, and have just always
wanted to join in with a readathon but don't really know what they are, basically a readathon
is a really popular group activity on BookTube and Book Twitter. They can last for just a
weekend, a week, even a month, and the idea is just to increase your reading in that time.
Readathons generally have a particular theme, so for example Thrillerathon, the idea is
just to read as many thrillers as you can. The OWLs readathon is part of the wider Magical
Readathon series run by Book Roast. I will link to her channel below so she can explain
it properly, but these are a series of Harry Potter inspired readathons. And the aim of
the OWLs, which is running throughout the whole of April, is to complete your OWLs wizarding
exams. And each subject has a different prompt, so you have to read a book that matches that
prompt. That's where we can help you out. So in this video, I am going to give you book
suggestions for all of the prompts, in case you're struggling to find something to read
for that challenge. And I've tried to keep a really big mix of genres, so no matter your
reading tastes you should find book suggestions in here that are helpful for you to complete
the challenges. There are also a bunch of videos already out there with general readathon
tips that give you advice for how to complete readathons, so BooksandLala and Little Book
Owl created videos a while ago that have loads and loads of tips so I will link to those
below. And a bit more recently we've had some really great videos from Rachael Marie's Book
Journey and A Beautiful Chaos of Books. So I will also link to those. Go over there and
check out the kind of general readathon hacks and tips. But now, let's get into the books.
So I have put timecodes below, so if there's a particular prompt you're looking for the
book for, you can skip straight to that.
So to pass your Ancient Runes OWL, you have to read a book with a heart on the cover or
in the title. So I've got a few suggestions. So for quite a moving literary book, there
is Jack and Bet by Sarah Butler. This one is about a married couple, who've been married
for about 70 years, and now they have a lot of difficult decisions to make, because their
son wants them to be moved into somewhere with full, around the clock care, but they
think they can manage perfectly well on their own. But as well as this, Bet also has been
hiding a secret from everyone including Jack for years.
And for another tearjerker there's The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne. So this is
set in Ireland and follows a gay man throughout his life, trying to find his place in the
world. Or for something pretty different, you could read Alex and Eliza. So this one
is a young adult Hamilton inspired romance, telling the love story between Alexander Hamilton
and Eliza Schuyler.
Next for your Care of Magical Creatures OWL. So for this one you have to read a book with
a creature that has a beak on the cover. So, my first suggestion for this is From the Wreck
by Jane Rawson. This one has an octopus on the cover, but did you know, octopuses have
beaks. I only recently found this out, but this one definitely counts for that challenge.
So this is a speculative sci-fi historical fiction book, inspired by a real shipwreck.
Or, you could read Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi, which has a bird on the cover. So this is
a very surreal fairytale, it's a loose Hansel and Gretel retelling, and it is very weird
and wonderful.
Or, there's The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. This is another fairytale
retelling, but this one is historical fantasy set in a cold Russian winter.
OK, for charms, the prompt is to read a book with a white cover. So my first suggestion,
and a book that's very short which is good for readathons, is A Whole Life by Robert
Seethaler. So this is about the whole life of this man who lives in this remote mountain
valley. Or for some nonfiction you could read The Secret Barrister, so this is an anonymously
written book by a real barrister and it's all about this insight into the criminal justice
system and everything that is wrong with it.
Or for some fantasy, you could read The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. This is the first
book in The Raven Cycle series, which is really really popular on BookTube, I think it's BooksandLala's
favourite series. So now might be the best time to kind of catch up on that hype. And
this one does have a raven on the cover, so you could maybe swap it around and read it
for the one with the beak on the cover instead.
For Defence Against the Dark Arts, you have to read a book set at sea, or by the coast.
So, a really fun one could be Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. This is a really
nostalgic book, and it reminds me a lot of my childhood anyway, about pirates and adventures.
Or, one that's been really popular is Wilder Girls by Rory Power. So this is a queer YA
body horror story, but it's set on this island so they're surrounded by the sea.
Or if you wanted to read a classic, you could read The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway,
so that's another short book so this might be the perfect time to read that one.
For Herbology, the prompt is to read a book where the title starts with an M. So you could
maybe read The Mobster's Lament by Ray Celestin. This is historical fiction set in 1940s New
York and it's got everything from mob bosses to musicians.
Or you could pick up My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. So this is
kind of a thriller and kind of just a dark comedy about a woman whose sister can't stop
murdering her boyfriends. Or another beloved book is Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha
Christie. This is real cosy crime, and maybe Agatha Christie's most famous beloved novel.
For history of magic, the prompt is to read a book featuring witches or wizards. So of
course, for this readathon it would be very fitting if you wanted to read a Harry Potter
book, but I'm assuming you've read them a million times, and so a few other suggestions:
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard is a fantasy book with really great world -building, that's
about two young witches and a continent on the brink of war. Or, if you're not so much
of a fantasy reader and want something really funny and lighthearted instead, I absolutely
loved these books, you can see my very battered copy. This is Bras and Broomsticks, which
is the first in the All About Rachel series, about a teenage girl in New York, who finds
out that her sister is a witch. So like serious Sabrina and the Teenage Witch vibes.
Or another great one is The Familiars by Stacey Halls. So this is historical fiction inspired
by the real witch trials. And it's about a young midwife who is accused of witchcraft
and the young woman who has to help fight for justice on her behalf.
For your Muggle Studies OWL, you just have to read a contemporary book, so there are
so many options here. But you might read Field Notes on Love by Jennifer E. Smith. This is
a YA romance but it's also about travel, and starts with the hilariously awkward set-up
that our main character has just broken up with his girlfriend but he still has travel
tickets booked in her name. And so he invites a random other person with the same name to
join him. Or for something much more hard-hitting, you could read A House Without Walls by Elizabeth
Laird. So this is about a teenage refugee, who's been driven out of Syria with her family
by civil war. Or for something totally different again, you could read Big Lies in a Small
Town by Diane Chamberlain. So this is half set in present day, about a woman who has
been accused of a crime she didn't commit, and imprisoned for that crime. But we also
flash back to a woman in the 1940s, and that storyline is also going to lead to murder.
For potions, you need to read a book 150 pages. So a really good one to read could be The
Little Prince. This is so many people's favourite book and it's such a delightful story, about
a pilot who comes across a little prince from a different planet. That one is just 136 pages
long, and then at 144 pages you could read The End We Start From by Megan Hunter, so
this is a dystopian about a world in which a mysterious environmental crisis has caused
London to be totally submerged under floodwater. Or for a bit of a tearjerker, again at 144
pages you could read The Body Artist by Don DeLillo, which is the story of a young performance
artist grieving after the suicide of her much older husband.
For your transfiguration OWL you need to read a book that involves shapeshifting. So, Paul
Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor is a really unique queer story about
a main character who can change their body at will, so lives these various different
lives in different genders.
Or for a classic including shapeshifting, you could read Dracula by Bram Stoker. So
Dracula can change his body into a bat, or even into the mist.
And then I thought I'd finish up with another really popular BookTube series which is the
Infernal Devices series, starting with Clockwork Angel. So this is about a young orphaned teenage
girl who discovers she's a shapeshifter.
Those are all of the OWLs you might be searching for books for, but there are also a few extra
bonus challenges. Most of them don't involve reading another specific book, unless you
want to do the bonus challenge of training to be a dragon trainer. And for that one you
do have to read a book about dragons. So, a few more suggestions here. The Invisible
Library series by Genevieve Cogman involves a main character who is a dragon but can present
in the form of a human. The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons is an epic fantasy, first in
the A Chorus of Dragons series. So this one has dragons, but also princes and demons and
gods. Or then there's Blood of an Exile by Brian Naslund, which is about a man who was
sentenced to death by fighting dragons. Except he never lost. So he is still alive, and now
the most successful dragon slayer in the country.
So hopefully that's given you some really good inspiration. If you want a few more ideas,
we do have a whole sci fi and fantasy playlist, as well as a whole YA playlist. So do click
through and have a look at those for a bit more inspiration. And definitely leave us
a comment letting us know, are you going to be taking part in this readathon? I'm going
to be joining in, I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Good luck with it!