Hey there!Every year, two incredible ladies, Ariel Bissett and Raeleen Lemay host a readathon during the month of July called The Reading Rush. The Reading Rush consists of seven reading challenges, Instagram challenges and YouTube challenges. Each year, the girls create a website for anyone to join and engage with other people participating. Anyone can participate in The Reading Rush and for every challenge you complete, you earn badges for your online profile. It is so much fun!
The Reading Rush is running from July 20th until July 26th and there are seven reading challenges, three YouTube challenges and seven Instagram challenges.
As you can see, each challenge has a badge attached to it. Once you complete each challenge, you have earned the badge and they become part of your profile on the website. Let's go through the reading challenges first!
Reading Challenges
The first reading challenge is to "Read a book with a cover that matches the colour of your birthstone." Now, I am a July baby so my birthstone is Ruby and I own a lot of books that have a red cover, so I was more than happy with this prompt. The book I have chosen to read for this prompt is First Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton. As a child, I loved both the Malory Towers and the St Clares books by Enid Blyton, so when I remembered the cover for the first book in the Malory Towers series was red, I knew it was the perfect choice for this prompt.
The prompt "Read a book in a genre you have always wanted to read more of" is an interesting one. Originally, I was going to select a non-fiction book as I used to read a lot of non-fiction works but have been slacking the last couple of years. Instead, I have chosen Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. This novel is written entirely in verse and I really want to read more books written in verse so this is the perfect opportunity.
Now, the prompt "Read a book completely outside of your house" caused some controversy because of the current health pandemic. However, Ariel and Raeleen decided on these prompts months ago, before the health pandemic and have said you can be as inventive with this prompt as you like. Personally, I still have to work and I have a big garden so I can read a book whilst I am at work or sitting in my garden. For other people, this prompt isn't as easy. Ariel and Raeleen have given some ideas to help with this prompt, such as: listening to an audiobook whilst you go on a walk, reading your book next to an open window, reading a book at relative or friends house. Whatever works best for you is all good! The book I am choosing to read for this prompt is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern as it is a book I have been meaning to read for so long and never gotten round to it!
The next prompt is "Read a book that takes place on a different continent than where you live" was going to be fairly easy for me because I live in Europe and a lot of books that I own are set in America or Asia. The book I plan to read for this challenge is The Colour of Our Sky by Amita Trasi which is set in India and Los Angeles. I was given this book for my birthday and I cannot wait to read it!
"Read a book that starts with the word The" must have made every single participant smile, it gives you so many options to choose from! I decided to go with The Gentlemans Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee for this prompt and I will be listening to this book on audio.
The second last prompt is "Read a book that inspired a movie you've already seen". This was a little difficult for me but after changing my mind a couple of times, I settled on It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. I watched this movie when I was about thirteen or fourteen years old and didn't realise it was based on a book until a couple of years later! I am really excited to read this book because I really enjoyed the film and 99% of the time, the book is always better than the film.
The last prompt is "Read a book you touch first". For this, I wrote down the titles on six books on bits of paper, closed my eyes and picked a bit of paper at random. The book I selected was Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt which I was secretly hoping I would pick!
YouTube Challenges
I really do think I can complete all of these reading challenges this year and read all seven books I have picked. I think I am also going to try vlogging throughout the week for the first time too! If I do decide to vlog, Ariel and Raeleen have created some YouTube challenges for The Reading Rush too!
Now, I might chicken out and not vlog anything next week but for right now, I am set on trying it. I have wanted to make booktube videos for so long but I have never had the confidence to bite the bullet and go for it. This might just be the push I need.
The first YouTube challenge is to make a video sharing the books you're planning to read during the Reading Rush. The second is to make a Reading Rush Vlog in which you make a cup of tea or coffee, match your outfit to a book in your TBR, talk about a favourite bookish story or memory and share the vlog on your YouTube channel. The last YouTube challenge is to do the Rushing to Read Tag created by Ariel and Raeleen.
Instagram Challenges
If I do chicken out of the YouTube challenges, I always have the Instagram Challenges to participate in! There are seven Instagram challenges, one for you to do each day! I always love doing these, they are so much fun!
1) Recreate a book cover.
2) Cosplay your book character.
3) Take a photo of your current read with your pet.
4) Take a photo where your book and the background match.
5) Take a photo of a book stack.
6) Take a photo of your reading fuel.
7) Use your books to make an artwork.
There are also seven extra badges you can achieve, even one for just participating in this years Reading Rush! So just to recap, there are seven reading challenges, seven Instagram challenges, three Youtube challenges and a grand total of sixteen badges to try and get! The Reading Rush 2020 is going to be so much fun!
I am really excited to read and review all of these books. Let me know if you are participating in this years Reading Rush and what you are reading! Check out Ariel and Raeleen below and my bookstagram too!
Ariel Bissett: https://www.instagram.com/ArielBissett/
Raeleen Lemay: https://www.instagram.com/RaeleenLemay/
Reading Rush: https://www.instagram.com/thereadingrush/
https://twitter.com/TheReadingRush
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37gcZOg4Hkw
Me: https://www.instagram.com/bookswithlauren/
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Lauren
Me: https://www.instagram.com/bookswithlauren/
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Lauren
