The Twelve Months of Bookmas – feat. Bookish Creation

Welcome to The Twelve Months of Bookmas! Christmas is our favorite time of the year, and while it might be over, there is no reason why the Christmas spirit and fun can’t continue on. To keep the Christmas cheer going, we wanted to start an annual bookish game that any reader can enjoy.

This game will have no winners and no losers, rather a fun community effort that will result in a Christmas tree decorated by everyone taking part – no matter what genre you prefer. This fun little game / reading challenge will keep any book lover going all year long, and bring us together as a community to create something truly special for Christmas that we can share on our blogs, social media, or with family and friends.

Each month we will post a new theme for The Twelve Months of Bookmas, and depending on how many books you read that have elements of that theme, you will add an ornament to the tree. We want everyone to get an ornament, even if time is limited, so if you read

• 1-2 books with elements of that month’s theme you will get one small ornament,
• 3 books will win you a medium ornament for the tree,
• 4 books will be worth a large,
• and 5 books and above will win you one of each size.

The large tree ornament is a very special one. If you have earned it by reading 4 books (or more), you can send in a personal picture that will then be turned into an ornament for the tree! (For picture usage, please have a look at the disclaimer section below)

 

The Inspiration behind The Twelve Months of Bookmas

Over this past Christmas, Bookish Creation and The Artsy Reader watched the movie “A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby” together. The movie had a special Christmas game that involved answering questions to see who could decorate a tree first. This sparked the idea of making a fun game that the bookish community could enjoy together. Thus, The Twelve Months of Bookmas was born.

 

Who can play?

Anyone. The spirit of the holidays does not view anyone for their likes, dislikes, race, sexual orientation, beliefs, culture, favorite or preferred genre, location, or background. We want this total inclusion to be seen throughout life, so it is being brought into this game. No matter if you are a reader, reviewer, writer, blogger, cat, or dog – anyone can play.

 

Will the months be genre specific?

No. Every genre and sub-genre have books that contain elements of everything. It doesn’t matter if you want to read fantasy, romance, horror, crime, YA, or any mix of genres for every month, so long as you see some element of that month’s theme it counts.

For example, if the theme for that month is love and you want to read horror books, there are still books that have love involved in the story. Did the ghost die for love, or do the characters get into the problem for love?

 

Rules

1: Be kind. This game is all about coming together as a community, acceptance, and fun. Social media will be highly used to help us connect and come together for this game, so please be nice to each other and don’t push people to read things they do not want to. Remember, all genres are acceptable for every month, so no genre hate or closed minds as to books and genres chosen to be read for that month. It is ok to be curious and ask the reader what elements in the book stood out the most for that theme, but please do not put it down because you are not a fan of that genre.

2: Books must have elements of that months theme. The book does not need to revolve around that theme but it must have some elements in it. This can be a little tricky in some cases but we are sure every genre has books that contain elements of all themes. If you want to, you are more than welcome to tell everyone what you felt made that book a good fit for the month.

3: Respond to the monthly Twitter or Instagram post to turn in the books you read. At the end of every month, we will have a post wrapping up that theme. For Twitter, you must also include images you would like used for your ornaments, or you can have us make them for you. For Instagram, if you have images you would like used, please send them to us via dm.

4: If you choose your own images they must be PG. No nudity or graphic images. Also, no images from Google Search. Images cannot be protected by copyright. Please only use free images from places such as Unsplash for your ornaments. You can use personal photos you have taken but please be aware that by sending them in you are giving up any copyright to them and allowing them to be added to a tree that will then get shared to everyone who played. (We won’t use them for anything else, but cannot guarantee others might not do so.)

5: Have fun!! Since this is our first annual round of The Twelve Months of Bookmas, we are open to any wishes or recommendations you might have. In the course of the upcoming months, things might get tweaked here and there, but the main thing will stay: our shared love for reading.

 

Disclaimer:

Please note: This game is only for fun. The tree in no way can be used for advertising or selling. All photos submitted to The Artsy Reader and Bookish Creation must be owned by the submitter or be free to use. Making sure photos are free to use is the sole responsibility of the game participants. By participating, all participants take full responsibility for any picture used as ornaments as well as any copyright infringement that may take place of pictures submitted which are not free to use or owned by participant.