Autumn Reading Challenge 2021: Intro, Tasks, and FAQs

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Welcome to the next Around the Year in 52 Books seasonal challenge. Our Fall challenge starts on September 1, 2021 and finishes on November 30, 2021.

For this challenge, you will be given a set of words and phrases, and you must match books to these phrases in one of four ways.

The Phrases:
1. autumn
2. fall
3. foliage
4. cooler weather
5. Halloween
6. scarf
7. harvest
8. pumpkin spice
9. orange
10. hot chocolate
11. spooky season
12. schooltime

How to Fill the Prompts:
1. Phrase contains BOTH letters of the author's name (ignore middle initial)
2. Phrase contains the first letter of the title (ignore or include A, An, and The)
3. Phrase is exemplified on the cover (your interpretation)
4. Phrase is found somewhere in the text (should be exact word)

Need a challenge? Try to limit the use of each type of fulfillment so you are completing the phrases in different ways! Or, on your second time around, try to fill the prompts in a different way from your first round... the possibilities are endless!

Example:

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

Using the author's initials it could be used for phrase 1. Using the first letter of the title you could apply it to phrase 4 or 5. Based on the cover, you could use it for phrase 9, or you could stretch it a bit and use it for "fall" or "autumn" since the orange color is very fall-like. You'll have to keep an eye for the phrases as you read, but I know number 6, scarf, shows up in this book.

How to Join the Challenge:
1. Set up a thread to keep track of your books for the challenge. You can create a new thread for your challenge in this folder. You can also check out the Community Spreadsheet and track your reading there.

2. If you need ideas or inspiration for any of the prompts, or you’d like to share recommendations then you can do so here.

3. When you’ve completed all of the phrases, post the details in this thread.

What Books Can Be Counted?
Generally books should be 100 pages or more, but if you’ve found the perfect book and it’s 90 pages then it’s your choice whether to count it. Or, if you’re really stuck on one task and you want to read a picture book or short story just to mark it as complete then go right ahead. The aim is to have fun and enjoy what you read, so nobody is going to judge anyone else for their book choices.

If you have any questions about the challenge then you can post them in this thread. The FAQs in post two below will also be updated as people ask questions so you might find your question has been answered there.

Happy reading, and we hope you enjoy the challenge!

[Shannon SA]

I'm confused about the example -
Author initials (A, M) could be used for phrases 4, 8 or 10 - there is no M in 4 and 10, there is no A in 8?
First letter of title is W - there is no W in phrase 10 per the example?
Phrase 12 is schooltime, not raincoat per the example?

[Severina]

Shannon wrote: "I'm confused about the example -
Author initials (A, M) could be used for phrases 4, 8 or 10 - there is no M in 4 and 10, there is no A in 8?
First letter of title is W - there is no W in phrase 1..."

I am confused as well.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Whooops. I copied the example over from our Spring Reading Challenge... I'll update that!

[Shannon SA]

LOL, thank you :)

[Nancy]

So here's a question I've had for these types of challenges, where we get words to match as opposed to prompts like the summer challenge.

I have some books that have numbers in the title - 20th Century Ghosts and 1984, for example. Do we just use the letter for the number? e.g. "T" for 20th, "N" for Nineteen?

These are books I'm reading for the regular challenge and would love to use them for the seasonal ones too.

[Sherri]

Is anyone else having trouble posting their challenge thread to the folder? I can't do it.

[Sherri]

I got it. Thank You

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Nancy, you can use the first letter as if the number was spelled out. Totally your choice how you interpret this challenge!

[Severina]

Emily wrote: "Whooops. I copied the example over from our Spring Reading Challenge... I'll update that!"

Isn't it always the way? LOL thanks!

[Trish, Annular Mod]

I'm trying to go it the first time through finding the word in the text for all of them, but if anyone has any suggestions for books with "schooltime" and "spooky season" in the text, I'd love to hear them. Otherwise they might end up being author initials!

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Schooltime is kind of an odd word, I don't think it's used much that way. The built-in editor on this page is underlining this as if it's not a real word!

[LeahS]

I haven't found anything with Schooltime (which myl spell check also thinks is wrong :)) or Spooky Season in texts.

Best I've been able to do is The Perks of Being a Wallflower which has school and time in the same sentence and Ghost Story which does the same for Spooky Season.

[Trish, Annular Mod]

Thanks. I feel I'm going to just have to go with other ways of filling thsoe two.

[LeahS]

I've found Schooltime - it's in the title to Book 1 of the poem, 'The Prelude' by Wordsworth. Found randomly on-line!