Fall Read-a-Thon 2021: Team Challenge Intro & FAQs

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

It's time for our Team Challenge, and in this quest, you will be trying to rescue the princess!

Each team is going on a quest to defeat monsters in order to save the princess. The more monsters they slay, the more points they win in the tournament to save the princess and reap the rewards.

You can slay the monsters in any order that you'd like, and you can work on multiple monsters at once. You'll want to secure the most possible points and rid the land of monsters, so make sure you are tackling at least one of every type of monster.


Harpies - 50 points
- Read 1000 pages as a group OR
- Listen to 8 hours of audiobook as a group


Banshees - 100 points
1. A book featuring the death of a character
2. A book that has a person with long hair on the cover


Wraiths - 150 points
1. A paranormal book
2. A book with a black and white cover
3. A short book (less than 250 pages)


Ogres - 200 points
1. A book with a green cover
2. A book set in a rural town
3. A giant book (500+ pages)
4. A book whose title starts with a letter found in OGRE


Dragons - 250 points
1. A book with a source of light on the cover
2. A book with animal print on the cover
3. A book with a predominately red or orange cover
4. A book featuring a "fiery" character
5. A book starting with a letter in the word NORBERT


Sphinx - 500 points
Can only complete once
1. A book with alliteration in the title
2. A book with a main character who has a pet
3. A book (at least partially) set in Egypt
4. A book with a protagonist who solves problems
5. A book with a yellow cover
6. A book with a mythological creature

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

THE TEAMS

WESTEROS
Captain: Johanne
Elli
Fee
Ira
Caitlin
Aimee
Sarah (Message 9)
Kat

NARNIA
Captain: Robin P
Sandra
Joyce
Ellie
Trish H
Lori
Miriam
Karissa
Sherri

EARTHSEA
Captain: Kim
Jen K
Alisa
Brittany
Rachel
Lisa
Lynn
Michelle
Dubhease

ATLANTIS
Captain: Kendra
Sarah (Message 43)
Joan
Amy
JennH
Kathy Jo
Edie
Kathy
Jackie

WONDERLAND
Captain: Nancy
Allie
Laurii
Lois
Deborah
Emma R.
Jill
Rachel G
NancyJ

NEVERLAND
Captain: Emily
Laurel
Samantha
Kathryn
Chrissy
Traci
Roxana
Kerry
Perri

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

FAQs

[NancyJ]

In order to kill the Sphinx, does a team need to complete all 6 Yellow
Sphinx prompts, or just one?

[Edie]

Emily, for the Atlantis spreadsheet, would you please list the team members at the top of the sheet for tracking numbers of pages and hours read? Thanks.

[Johanne]

Graphic novels: Will they work for this readathon? With a minimum of 200 pages instead of 100 for ordinary books?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

To kill the Sphinx, you must complete all 6 prompts.
Yes, Johanne, that's the rules for graphic novels.

Edie, I'll go do that now.

[Johanne]

Thanks Emily

[Irene]

Sorry if this has been covered (couldn't find it anywhere!), but can a book be used to kill both the harpy and another monster? Like using it for a prompt but also contributing its page count to the harpy?

[Kendra]

Irene wrote: "Sorry if this has been covered (couldn't find it anywhere!), but can a book be used to kill both the harpy and another monster? Like using it for a prompt but also contributing its page count to th..."

Yep - Harpies are just killed by your teams total pages read/audio hours listened to. Then each finished book can be used to help kill a different monster.

[Irene]

Kendra wrote: "Yep - Harpies are just killed by your teams total pages read/audio hours listened to. Then each finished book can be used to help kill a different monster."

Ohh, I didn't know finished books could be used to kill other monsters!! Thanks!

[NancyJ]

I need a Mod opinion:

Does this look predominately orange and red?

[Elli]

Can this be considered to be a book that has a person with long hair on the cover?



She has her hair up in a bun & you need long hair to put it up in a bun right? :D

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Elli wrote: "Can this be considered to be a book that has a person with long hair on the cover?



She has her hair up in a bun & you need long hair to put it up in a ..."

I used a similar one so I say it doesn't matter if the hair is up, it is still there.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

NancyJ, I'd say yes... it's close enough.

[Reed]

Which team am I on since I'm a new member of this group?

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Reed, feel free to join Team Westeros!

[Johanne]

Welcome to Westeros, Reed!

[RachelG.]

I might be just getting tired, but do paw prints 🐾 work for A book with animal print on the cover?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I think that could be a unique interpretation of animal print, yes!

[RachelG.]

Thanks

[Johanne]

Haha I somehow thought it had to be paw prints or animal tracks of some kind. Can it just be a picture of an animal or how is it meant?

[NancyJ]

I assumed it was animal tracks too! Does it mean a picture of an animal? That's so much easier for me. If not, I think I need an example.

[Roxana]

That’s funny, I didn’t even think of the paw prints type of meaning and assumed it meant like a fabric-type print, like a cheetah or zebra pattern, as on the cover of Hana Khan Carries On (Sorry I’m on the mobile app and can’t link the book). Which seemed really tough to me, Hana Khan was the only book I could even think of 😂

[NancyJ]

Roxana wrote: "That’s funny, I didn’t even think of the paw prints type of meaning and assumed it meant like a fabric-type print, like a cheetah or zebra pattern, as on the cover of Hana Khan Carries On (Sorry I’..."

Wow, and I never thought of fabric at all. I guess this is like one of those perception games. Once you picture it one way, it's hard to see alternatives.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I would say a picture of an animal wouldn’t work, since that’s an animal, not animal print. When I wrote the prompt, I was actually thinking of the fabrics type thing, like leopard print and cheetah print. But paw prints work as well, I think!

[Trish, Annular Mod]

Quick question. I'm going to see a play live on Thursday - can that be used as the equivalent of an audiobook? It's As You Like it, so the running time is about 3 hours.

Also, seperately, what constitutes "mythological" - is it just fantasy creatures, or do things like ghosts, aliens and alleged spectral hounds count?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Ah sorry Trish, I just realized I never answered you. Sure, we can count it, since I know the actors lines won't vary from the play (because who rewrites Shakespeare?!)

I'd say mythological would just be fantasy creatures -- things that come from mythology. Paranormal would cover ghosts, aliens, etc.

[Johanne]

Emily wrote: "I would say a picture of an animal wouldn’t work, since that’s an animal, not animal print. When I wrote the prompt, I was actually thinking of the fabrics type thing, like leopard print and cheeta..."

Thanks for clarifying that :)

[Trish, Annular Mod]

Emily wrote: "Ah sorry Trish, I just realized I never answered you. Sure, we can count it, since I know the actors lines won't vary from the play (because who rewrites Shakespeare?!)

I'd say mythological would just be fantasy creatures -- things that come from mythology. Paranormal would cover ghosts, aliens, etc."

Thanks for the first, and no problem for the second!

[°~Amy~°]

Emily wrote: "I would say a picture of an animal wouldn’t work, since that’s an animal, not animal print. When I wrote the prompt, I was actually thinking of the fabrics type thing, like leopard print and cheeta..."

What about a pink flamingo feather boa? Animal print is really hard to find! lol

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I'll accept that, sure lol

[Nancy]

Can it be an "animal print" as in a drawing or painting of an animal, as opposed to a photograph? It is really hard to find.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yes, a drawing or painting of an animal will work!

[Sarah]

Would a hand print work for animal print? it's technically the print of an animal?!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Sure lol

[Kim]

Could you open more columns in the spreadsheet? We have used up to AG on our plan sheet and it doesn't seem to allow us to add more. Thanks!

Edit: We can add one column at a time, is there a way to add more than that?

[Nancy]

Adding columns in Google Sheets is kind of weird. If you want to add 5 columns, select the 5 right-most columns and right click. You will have the option to insert 5 columns to the right.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I've added extra columns to all spreadsheets!

[Irene]

Emily wrote: "Sure lol"

Wait. If humans count as animals (since human hand prints work) does that mean a drawing or painting of a human is also fine?

And one more question: by drawing or painting of an animal, does that mean any illustrated book cover with an animal works, or do you mean a drawing or painting within the context of the cover art itself, like a framed picture of a pet on the wall, or a doodle of a dog in a character's sketchbook?

Thanks in advance!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

This is turning out to be way more complicated than I anticipated.

Ok here's some general rules:

What Counts:
- Animal print on fabric (tiger, cheetah, etc.)
- Animal/people footprints
- Drawings of animals (as in, within the context of the cover, it's a drawing, not just an illustrated cover)
- Fossilized animals, animal skeletons, other remnants of animals



What Does Not Count:
- Actual images of animals on the cover
- Actual images of people on the cover
- Images of animals or people on an illustrated cover that are not "drawings" in the context of the cover



If you have questions about a specific book, I'm happy to answer them here, but hopefully this clears it up a bit.

[Irene]

Thank you!! Will share this with my team. Really like the creativity of the prompt, especially with the option of fossils/bones/etc.

[Kim]

For the sphinx prompt, may I use The Wright Brothers by David McCullough for "A book with a protagonist who solves problems"? It's non-fiction, but looking at the M-W definition it fits the second and third entries: the main figure or one of the most prominent figures in a real situation, or an advocate or champion of a particular cause or idea.

It's often hard to fit non-fiction books into challenges, don't you think?

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

I think that works. For protagonist or main character prompts, with non-fiction you can use a person the book focuses on. As long as they are a main person in the book and not like a cameo appearance, I think that's fine. I also read a lot of nonfiction so I understand the struggle.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yea I use the word protagonist when I write these prompts, but I definitely mean them to apply to fiction or nonfiction... it's just hard to find a succinct word that refers to both a main character in a novel and the person of interest in a nonfiction book.

[Joan]

I can't decide if this book cover would count for an animal print or not. It's not like a normal leopard print or anything. I think it would be a stretch but I figured I would ask and see if you thought it would count.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yes, it counts Joan!

[Joan]

Emily wrote: "Yes, it counts Joan!"

Thank you!

[Kim]

Emily wrote: "Yea I use the word protagonist when I write these prompts, but I definitely mean them to apply to fiction or nonfiction... it's just hard to find a succinct word that refers to both a main characte..."

Cool, thanks!

[Brittany]

Emily wrote: "This is turning out to be way more complicated than I anticipated.

Ok here's some general rules:

What Counts:
- Animal print on fabric (tiger, cheetah, etc.)
- Animal/people footprints
- Drawings..."

I had used this for the prompt since the cover is half feathers and half fur, just wanted to make sure it was okay.