GraceCollection Cat Challenge

Guess I better get started, huh? This is my second year participating in the Category Challenge!

Last year my categories were only from the challenges, and I created my tracking posts with each month as one post. I ended up fully completing 4 challenges, 11/12 of 2 more challenges, 5/6 of 2 challenges, and 3/4 of the final challenge, bringing me to a grand total of 'mostly participating' out of 9 total categories last year. I got most of my Bingo card finished as well.

There are eleven(!!) category challenges this year! Even if I find some doubles and CAT tricks, that still will have me reading a lot more than last year, which I'm not sure if I will find the time to do!

First, I will be putting up my own categories for this year, then, like last year, I will do month-by-month CAT/KIT plans.

I am hosting CultureKIT this year, and hosting 0 months for any CATs/KITs. I have no idea what my 2026 will look like right now, so I don't know what time commitment I would be able to spare.

Non-Fiction: Self Improvement
250 Brief, Creative & Practical Art Therapy Techniques

Fiction: Speculative
Portal Fantasy/Dark Fairy Tale Down Among the Sticks and Bones

Fiction: Realistic
Drama Little Fires Everywhere

Non-Traditional Formats: Poetry, Plays, Graphic Novels
I'd like to read at least 10 non-traditional format books this year. Last year, I did not track this category, but ended up reading 7 non-traditional format books, including short story collections.

Kiddy Lit: YA, juvenile, picture books
Picture books will not be getting their own post in my thread; last year I read a few but did not give them their own post.
YA Down Among the Sticks and Bones
Pic. The Wonder You See: a cute picture book about having curiosity for the world around you and the perspectives of others
Pic. Jumper: an adorable narrative fiction about the life and senses of a jumping spider; would be great to help combat arachnophobia
Pic. Search for a Giant Squid: Explains a little bit about all different aspects of research submersibles, and a little about the elusive giant squid. Kids will love choosing their own adventure over and over!
Pic. If Animals Built Your House: A nifty and imaginative book about animal shelters
Pic. Do Not Lick This Book: An adorable and interactive introduction to microbes and germ theory
Pic. How This Book Was Made: Very cute, humorous story about the process of books — writing, editing, illustrating, printing, binding, selling, and of course reading
Pic. My Cat is a Secret Agent: Cute little book about the power of imagination
Pic. Death is Stupid: An honest and straightforward look at grief
Pic. John the Skeleton: A cute story about the retirement of a classroom skeleton, with a bittersweet ending

Female Authors
Last year, my goal was to 'read more' female authors, and I ended up reading 79.4% female authors. This year, I want to read at least 75% female authors.
Down Among the Sticks and Bones
Little Fires Everywhere
250 Brief, Creative & Practical Art Therapy Techniques

3/3
5/9 picture books

Non-Western Perspectives
'Non-western' is hard to define. For my purposes, this is about expanding perspective beyond the dominant, Christian, west-Eurocentric culture. So, a white person from the US wouldn't count for this category, but an Indigenous person from the US would. A white person from England wouldn't count for this category, but a white person from Serbia would.
Little Fires Everywhere - 2nd generation American; parents originate from Hong Kong

1/3

BingoDOG

5/Tree on the Cover: Little Fires Everywhere
6/Fairy Tale/Myth Retelling: Down Among the Sticks and Bones

*********************January**********************
CultureKIT: Collectors: Fundamentals of Ornithology DNF
NonfictionCAT: Science: Fundamentals of Ornithology DNF
ArtsCAT: Painting: 250 Brief, Creative & Practical Art Therapy Techniques
RandomKIT: Can You Keep a Secret?: Down Among the Sticks and Bones and Little Fires Everywhere
SF&FKIT: Adaptations: Little Fires Everywhere
ScaredyKIT: Isolated Locations: Down Among the Sticks and Bones
Colour/CoverKIT: Orange/Garden: Fundamentals of Ornithology DNF
AlphaKIT: F: Fundamentals of Ornithology DNF and Little Fires Everywhere
AlphaKIT: E: Little Fires Everywhere
MysteryKIT: Female detectives: Little Fires Everywhere
DecadesKIT: 50s: Fundamentals of Ornithology DNF
HomeCAT: Bathroom

*********************February**********************
CultureKIT
NonfictionCAT
ArtsCAT

RandomKIT
SF&FKIT
ScaredyKIT

HomeCAT: Living Room: The Ersatz Elevator CURRENTLY READING
Colour/CoverKIT
AlphaKIT

MysteryKIT
DecadesKIT

*********************March**********************
CultureKIT
NonfictionCAT
ArtsCAT

RandomKIT
SF&FKIT
ScaredyKIT

HomeCAT
Colour/CoverKIT
AlphaKIT

MysteryKIT
DecadesKIT

*********************April**********************
CultureKIT
NonfictionCAT
ArtsCAT

RandomKIT
SF&FKIT
ScaredyKIT

HomeCAT
Colour/CoverKIT
AlphaKIT

MysteryKIT
DecadesKIT

*********************May**********************
CultureKIT
NonfictionCAT
ArtsCAT

RandomKIT
SF&FKIT
ScaredyKIT

HomeCAT
Colour/CoverKIT
AlphaKIT

MysteryKIT
DecadesKIT

*********************June**********************
CultureKIT
NonfictionCAT
ArtsCAT

RandomKIT
SF&FKIT
ScaredyKIT

HomeCAT
Colour/CoverKIT
AlphaKIT

MysteryKIT
DecadesKIT

*********************July**********************
CultureKIT
NonfictionCAT
ArtsCAT

RandomKIT
SF&FKIT
ScaredyKIT

HomeCAT
Colour/CoverKIT
AlphaKIT

MysteryKIT
DecadesKIT

*********************August**********************
CultureKIT
NonfictionCAT
ArtsCAT

RandomKIT
SF&FKIT
ScaredyKIT

HomeCAT
Colour/CoverKIT
AlphaKIT

MysteryKIT
DecadesKIT

*********************September**********************
CultureKIT
NonfictionCAT
ArtsCAT

RandomKIT
SF&FKIT
ScaredyKIT

HomeCAT
Colour/CoverKIT
AlphaKIT

MysteryKIT
DecadesKIT

*********************October**********************
CultureKIT
NonfictionCAT
ArtsCAT

RandomKIT
SF&FKIT
ScaredyKIT

HomeCAT
Colour/CoverKIT
AlphaKIT

MysteryKIT
DecadesKIT

*********************November**********************
CultureKIT
NonfictionCAT
ArtsCAT

RandomKIT
SF&FKIT
ScaredyKIT

HomeCAT
Colour/CoverKIT
AlphaKIT

MysteryKIT
DecadesKIT

*********************December**********************
CultureKIT
NonfictionCAT
ArtsCAT

RandomKIT
SF&FKIT
ScaredyKIT

HomeCAT
Colour/CoverKIT
AlphaKIT

MysteryKIT
DecadesKIT

Happy and healthy 2026! Wishing you lots of good books :)

So very organized! Enjoy your 2026 challenges, and happy new year!

Great blessings to you and your reading in the new year.

Wishing you a happy and successful reading year in 2026!

Enjoy your 2026 Challenges!

Happy reading in 2026! I'm looking forward to participating in CultureKIT.

Thank you everyone for the well wishes!!

Happy reading!

Happy reading, and Happy New Year!

Just came from reading your 2025 thread. Took a BB for Every Heart a Doorway.

>33 MissWatson: and >34 mstrust: Thank you! Happy reading to you as well!

>35 lowelibrary: I hope you enjoy it, April!!

1. Down Among the Sticks and Bones



Starting the year, I'm continuing the Wayward Children series, the one I mentioned on my last thread about children finding doors to different worlds.

This prequel follows two characters from the first book on their journey to the world they fell into when they were eleven, and ends when they come back to 'our' world. My thoughts on this one were similar to my thoughts on the previous — I really enjoyed the world-building and characters, but wish the story itself was longer, and felt it was didactic at parts.

Planning to continue this series.

Wow! I haven't a clue how this group works but I'm impressed at how much you have going on and how organized you are. Sounds exciting and seems to keep you motivated and steadily reading.

I need to browse around a bit to get the feel for what's happening here. See if it something I might interested in for 2027 since I feel my 2026 plate is full (I do both LT and GR.)

Meantime, what's a CAT and what's a KIT?

>38 DebiCates: Sorry, you caught me right after I logged off!
CAT stands for Categories And Themes, they are three or four 'official' challenges voted on before the year starts — a yearlong CAT, with each month having a prompt under that CAT. KITs are similar, but they aren't official or voted on, so they're 'smaller' than a CAT.

Someone chooses to 'host' each CAT and KIT for the year, which mostly means setting up a thread to plan out the monthly prompt, and taking over in the event someone is out of commission to post a monthly thread. Then, someone chooses to 'host' a CAT for each month (and some CATs/KITs have yearlong prompts someone hosts too, like AlphaKIT, where each month has 2 letters with a yearlong X and Z prompt). Some time usually about the 20-25th of the month before, the host for that month will make a thread for their prompt, where people can share ideas about what to read for that prompt, list out their books, and some people post their review (or a snippet from their review) in the thread as well!

Category Challenge also hosts BingoDOG every year, with 25 prompts we suggest and select, assembled into three different BingoDOG cards that we work to fill throughout the year!

People in the Category Challenge can participate in as many or as few CATs/KITs/DOG as they want, and can add their own categories as well, as I have before my month posts!

>39 GraceCollection: You are kind to have explained so much. I was way wrong about my guesses for CAT and KIT, ha. It sounds fun. I definitely need to hang out a bit (you know, lurk) to see if it's something I might participate in in the future.

>40 DebiCates: Feel free to lurk here in my thread! I'm behind on my reading already this month, but will post all my reviews in this thread.

>40 DebiCates: Just popping in to say that if you're interested in learning more about the group, the "welcome" thread is a good place to start: https://www.librarything.com/topic/374659. I hope you enjoy your lurking in the group! :)

>42 christina_reads: Thanks for the link, Christina. I'll read that now.

Have a good reading year, Grace! I picked up a few titles for the wishlist from you last year, so hopefully will hear of some new ones this year too!

>44 Jackie_K: Thanks for dropping by, Jackie! I think sharing BBs with each other is my favourite part of the Category Challenge!

X. Fundamentals of Ornithology



I got through about half of this book before I decided I was spending too much time on it. I have other things to read. If you have forgotten any basic anatomy terms (or never learnt them), you will be lost in the first chapter. In this way, I would not call this a 'fundamental' text, which to me implies that it is an entry point. I did learn quite a bit, but the text was rather dry, and in the almost 70 years which have passed, enough information was outdated that even I noticed. The illustrations are black and white but quite pleasant.

I intended to count this for the 'dead author' square, since it is fairly unique in that the main author Dr. Van Tyne passed before the book was finished, but I don't think it's fair to count a book I haven't finished. I will still be counting this book for the monthly challenges to which it applies, since I finished half of the book and have no time to start others, but I won't crosspost it. This one's just for my thread.

2. Little Fires Everywhere



This family drama follows the picture-perfect Elena Richardson and her picture-perfect family, who reconsider everything in the light of Mia and Pearl Warren, who come into town following their own rules and befriend the family. Tensions in picture-perfect Shaker Heights are already raised regarding a custody battle between a Chinese mother and her 1-year-old daughter's rich, white, adoptive parents, until a house fire at the Richardson's gives everyone something new to talk about.

This story, unfolding in all directions from the house fire that opens the book, had me hooked from the beginning.

3. 250 Brief, Creative & Practical Art Therapy Techniques



Although I wanted to try many of these exercises, I did not find the time. Generally, these exercises are insightful but not intimidating — entry-level art skills, especially drawing and collage, are all that is needed. I occasionally found some of the exercises to be repetitive.

**********January in Review**********
Books read: 3
Books DNF'd: 1
Picture books: 4
CATs read: 7/11
   ArtsCAT: Painting
   RandomKIT: Can You Keep a Secret?
   SF&FKIT: Adaptations
   ScaredyKIT: Isolated Locations
   AlphaKIT: F
   AlphaKIT: E
   MysteryKIT: Female detectives
CATs not read:
   CultureKIT: Collectors
   NonfictionCAT: Science
   HomeCAT: Bathroom
   Colour/CoverKIT: Orange/Garden
   DecadesKIT: 50s
BingoDOGs: 2
Female authors: 3/3
Non-Western authors: 1/3
Fiction vs. Non-Fiction: 2 v. 1

February has been so busy. I only just finished my last January read... so I don't hold high hopes for February's 11 CATs! Oh, well. I can start again in March.

4. The Ersatz Elevator



I rather enjoy Tim Curry's narration of this tragic series for kids. The basic conceit is that after a mysterious fire which kills both their parents, the Baudelaire orphans are shunted from house to house, guardian to guardian, as one adult in their life after another proves themselves incompetent, naive, or downright evil, and they must rely only on Violet's inventing skills, Klaus' book smarts, Sunny's strong biting baby teeth, and their own sibling bond to avoid the schemes of Count Olaf, who is desperate for their family fortune and willing to cheat, lie, and even kill to get it. The narrator, a researcher of the Baudelaire orphans with a mysterious connection to an oft-mentioned Beatrice, has a very unique and engaging voice.

I think for some kids, especially those who have gone through inexplicable tragedy of their own, will find comfort in a series where everything goes wrong and yet these siblings always have each other.