The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

It's time to starting thinking about the bonus themes for the next year of challenges. The moderators and task creators base some of the challenge's tasks on the bonus themes. Other tasks will be based on seasonal motifs and some will be added just for fun.

Bonus themes we've used so far include:

2010-2011 — Asia, Australia, Europe, and Africa
2011-2012 — Earth, Fire, Wind/Air, and Water
2012-2013 — The Chinese Four Symbols
2013-2014 — A Year of Board Games: Clue, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Risk
2014-2015 — Mythologies of the World - Classical, Asia, Nordic, Americas
2015-2016 — A Year of Art: Impressionist, Pop, Abstract, Folk
2016-2017 — Wonders of the World: Ancient, Modern, Medieval, Natural
2017-2018 — That's Entertainment!: Animals, Museums, Theatre, Recreation
2018-2019 — Characters: Heroes, Villains, Rogues, Damsels
2019-2020 — Awards: Books, Music, Movies, Theatre
2020-2021 — Decades: 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s
2021-2022 — Wizard of Oz: Dorothy, Scarecrow, Lion, Tinman

These themes have brought extra inspiration to the SRC and have given us some really fun tasks. Ideally, the overall theme would be composed of 4 related components, but feel free to get creative and submit your ideas here! This thread will be open for ideas until September 30. A poll will then be created from the popular, workable ideas in order to select our next bonus themes. We're looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

Bit depressing, but considering how the 2020s are going... The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Pestilence, war, famine, death

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo

four major mathematical operations - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

four cardinal virtues - justice, prudence, fortitude and temperance

movie/tv groups with 4 main characters - sex and the city; ghostbusters; seinfeld and the golden girls (there are many others but these could make for some fun tasks)

Siobhan wrote: "Bit depressing, but considering how the 2020s are going... The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Pestilence, war, famine, death"

I like that - quite original.
More traditional, I also like the suits in a card game: spade, diamond, club and heart.
The four Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.
Four main fantasy races: men, elves, dwarves, halflings
Physical appearance of water: ice, vapor, liquid, cloud (accumulation of vapor)

Directions: North, South, East, West
Cards: Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, Spades
Cards: Jack, Queen, King, Ace
Colours: Yellow, Green, Red, Blue
Classifications: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Spirit/Mythical
Transport: Planes, Trains, Automobiles, Boats
Diversity & Equality: LGBT, Black lives matter, Women, Disability
Knights of the Round Table: Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot (or Galahad) & Merlin
The ranks of nobility: Duke, Earl/Count, Marquess, Baron

Dare I suggest Harry Potter: Slytherin, Griffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw

Great classic writers: Shakespeare, the brothers grimm, Jane austen, Agatha christie

Decades: 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s

The four humors: Blood, Yellow Bile, Black Bile, Phlegm

The 4 noble truths of buddhism: Dukkha (suffering), Samudaya (arising), Nirodha (ending), Marga (path)

Swot analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

The pevensie siblings of Narnia: Queen Lucy the Valiant, King Edmund the Just, Queen Susan the Gentle, King Peter the Magnificent

Tarot suits: cups, wands, swords and pentacles

The pacman ghosts: Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde

Positions: Up, Down, Right and Left

Sections of an orchestra: Strings, Woodwind, Brass, Percussion

4 Dimensions: Length, width, height and time

Bronte siblings: Emily, Anne, Charlotte and Branwell

Wonderland: Alice, The white rabbit, The mad hatter, The queen of hearts

Literary/Artistic groups:

The bloomsbury set: Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, John Maynard Keynes, Vanessa Bell

Stratford-on-Odeon: Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, F Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude stein

The Algonquin roundtable: Dorothy Parker, George Kaufman, Harold Ross, Harpo Marx

The Harlem renaissance: Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Jean Toomer, Claude McKay

The south side writers group: Richard Wright, Frank Marshall Davis, Arna Bontemps, Margaret Walker

Four components of health: Physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual

Four pillars of good health: exercise, nutrition, relaxation, sleep

Four stages of life: infancy, youth, middle years, old age

It would be great if we could avoid four people, or four characters from the same film/show or similar this year. Having the bonus themes this year linked to the four Oz characters was stretched by the Spring let alone Fall.

I've wondered in the past about precious metals, base metals, gemstones, semi-precious stones.

1) Another take on the decades:

1900-1909
1910-1919
2000-2009
2010-2019

2) School Years: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior

3) Famous Bands with 4 members

The Beatles or Led Zeppelin - English
ABBA - Swedish
Red Hot Chili Peppers or The Doors - US
U2 - Ireland

I like this one by Ann A:

Four components of health: Physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual

Four epics - Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Dune, Game of Thrones

Four social sciences - Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics

Four rooms of the house - Living room, Kitchen, Bedroom, Office

Four kinds of sports - Team Sports, Individual Sports, Motor Sports, Lifetime Sports (things like jogging that are more for health than competition)

Four Centuries - 1700's, 1800's, 1900's, 2000's

Fours years of High School: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Seniors

The four basic math operations : Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division

For the musical groups with four members, I'd add "The Four Tops", USA!

Queens of England: Elizabeth I, Anne, Victoria, Elizabeth II

Tennis Grand Slams: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open

Trish wrote: "It would be great if we could avoid four people, or four characters from the same film/show or similar this year. Having the bonus themes this year linked to the four Oz characters was stretched by..."

I agree! And I also hope we're not going for the Harry Potter themed option, since the series has become very controversial lately.
I'll think of some options to add to the suggestions.. :)

* The colours needed to mix any other colour (primary colours + white): red, yellow, blue and white

* The four directions: north, east, south, west

* Fantasy characters: fairies, vampires, wizards, mermaids

* Famous fairy tales: red riding hood, snow white, cinderella, hansel and gretel

* Four most common languages spoken around the world: English, Mandarin Chinese, Hindustani, Spanish

* The four elements necessary for story structure: character, plot, setting and tension

* The four story structures that dominate novels (according to Writer's Digest): milieu, idea, character, and event.

* Four basic colours is also an option: red, yellow, blue, green

Siobhan wrote: "Bit depressing, but considering how the 2020s are going... The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Pestilence, war, famine, death"

I like that one!

Meg wrote: "Great classic writers: Shakespeare, the brothers grimm, Jane austen, Agatha christie"

I like that one too

I like the Bronte siblings!

Shannon SA wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "Bit depressing, but considering how the 2020s are going... The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Pestilence, war, famine, death"

I like that one!"

You never know - it's been in the poll for at least the last 4 years, so maybe people will want to vote for it this time.

Transportation: Air, Land, Sea, and Space

Notable events:
Winter - Football (Soccer) World Cup, Qatar
Spring - Eurovision Song Contest, Ukraine / UK
Summer - Burning Man Festival, Nevada, US
Fall - Pan-American Games, Santiago, Chile

Movie Musicals: The Sound of Music, Tommy, Grease, The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The 4 hemispheres of the globe -

Northern
Southern
Eastern
Western

I saw this on Reddit and loved it. You can do the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, and Donatello.

But, you have the bonus of some crossovers….with their artist muses, as well as their personalities:

Leonardo - Blue mask (the leader; quiet, courageous, takes responsibility)

Michelangelo - Orange mask (the goofy one; optimistic, relaxed; the comic relief)

Donatello - Purple mask (the rational one, scientist and inventor)

Raphael - Red mask (the antihero, aggressive, sarcastic, quick to fight)

Music: Country, Rock, Classical, Jazz

Hannah wrote: "* The colours needed to mix any other colour (primary colours + white): red, yellow, blue and white

* The four directions: north, east, south, west

* Fantasy characters: fairies, vampires, wizard..."

I like the four story structures idea and the four horsemen of the apocalypse I have been voting for that for a while

Shannon SA wrote: "Meg wrote: "Great classic writers: Shakespeare, the brothers grimm, Jane austen, Agatha christie"

I like that one too"

me too

The Round One bonus theme poll is open.
This poll is open until the end of the day on 10/13.
The final round with the top contenders will open be open from 10/14 until 10/20.

The Final Round bonus theme poll is open.
This poll is open until the end of the day on Oct 20.

The bonus themes for the next year have been chosen!
Decades: 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s
Thanks to all who participated.