Pondathon II: A New Companion Quest! Finding Your Food Soulmate with Alechia Dow

Pondathon II is a year-long gardening-themed readathon hosted by The Quiet Pond! Help us restore the forest by reading to earn plants and decorate your own garden. For more information about Pondathon, read our Readathon Information Post or check out our Pondathon II Portal.

The story:

You’ve been hard at work, helping the Pond friends grow, prune, trim, and dig. Your garden is coming along – and the Pond friends have given you so many compliments for your garden so far! – and you’re excited for another day helping the forest grow back again.

When you arrive at the Pond, you notice a purple bear wearing glasses talking with Xiaolong – it looks like Alechia Dow, who visited us two years ago for Pride Month!

“Hi friend! Alechia’s back!” Xiaolong says, beaming. “Alechia thinks that we’ve been hard at work, so she suggested that we all take a break and have a snack together! The problem is, we don’t know what snacks you like… and that’s a huge problem!” Xiaolong shakes her head; indeed, snacks are very important. “Alechia wants to make sure that our souls are nourished with yummy food, so she wants to hear all about your favourite food. In exchange, she will show us this mysterious plant that she found on her adventures!”

Well, that sounds like a fair trade! Food for a new plant to add to our garden. Let’s do it!

Before we share the quest, let’s have a quick look at Alechia Dow’s latest YA book, The Kindred:

The Kindred by Alechia Dow

To save a galactic kingdom from revolution, Kindred mind-pairings were created to ensure each and every person would be seen and heard, no matter how rich or poor…

Joy Abara knows her place. A commoner from the lowly planet Hali, she lives a simple life—apart from the notoriety that being Kindred to the nobility’s most infamous playboy brings.

Duke Felix Hamdi has a plan. He will exasperate his noble family to the point that they agree to let him choose his own future and finally meet his Kindred face-to-face.

Then the royal family is assassinated, putting Felix next in line for the throne…and accused of the murders. Someone will stop at nothing until he’s dead, which means they’ll target Joy, too. Meeting in person for the first time as they steal a spacecraft and flee amid chaos might not be ideal…and neither is crash-landing on the strange backward planet called Earth. But hiding might just be the perfect way to discover the true strength of the Kindred bond and expose a scandal—and a love—that may decide the future of a galaxy.

Find The Kindred on:
Goodreads | Amazon | Indiebound | Bookshop

About the Author

Alechia Dow is a former pastry chef, food critic, culinary teacher, and Youth Services librarian. When not writing YA sci-fi featuring determined black girls (like herself), you can find her having epic dance parties with her daughter, baking, mentoring, or taking teeny adventures around Europe.

Find Alechia on: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Goodreads

You’ve received a quest!

Let’s talk about our favourite foods, friend! For this side quest, Alechia would love for all gardeners to do a ‘foodie soulmate picture’! In other words, we want all Pondathon gardeners to take and post a picture of the food that they believe is their soulmate alongside the cover of The Kindred.

Quest expires on: 19th February 2022, 8PM NZT. [?]

Objectives:

Take and post a picture of your food that is your soulmate and the cover of The Kindred and post it on social media/your blog. Tell us what your food soulmate is too!
If you do not have social media/blog, upload your food soulmate in the Google Form below.
This quest is not repeatable (i.e., objectives can only be completed once).
Bonus: To earn the space-inspired planters for your garden:
- In the same post/thread/caption, give a shout-out to The Kindred by Alechia Dow (i.e., including the title, author, and a link to Goodreads or your preferred book retailer for The Kindred).
- For those who do not have social media ONLY: Tell us about another food that can be your ‘food soulmate’ in the Google Form.

Quest Rewards:

1. ‘The Kindred bloom‘, a flower inspired by The Kindred (1 design)
2. Bonus achievement reward: A star planter and a moon planter (1 design each)