A few notes on April's books
It has been brought to our attention that two specific books haven been added to some of the lists on the Storygraph challenge of the Diverse Baseline, so we want to briefly talk about them.
1. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
This book has been added to the prompts of chronic pain & disability.
From the synopsis it’s not possible to know what is wrong with this book, because the problem is used a twist at the end, but if some of you have watched the movie, you probably already know.
The main character has Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID). The illness is misrepresented during the story, but the worst part is that in the end the reader finds out that the fmc does not have SCID. Her mother pretended the fmc had SCID and emotionally abused her into believing it. The book is filled with ableism and harmful tropes including the character being “cured” as the happy ending.
Here are some reviews and articles you can read to learn more about it:
We discourage people from picking it up because of its ableism, but we specifically discourage people from picking it up for the this challenge (especially for those prompts).
2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
This book has been added to the prompts of chronic pain & disability, and to the prompt of mixed race authors.
In this case, the problem lies with both the book and the author. Gabrielle Zevin is a zionist, and has shared her views offline as well as in her stories. She has done events with Hadassah, which is The Women's Zionist Organization of America, and in her book, she has multiple mentions of painting Israel in a positive light, including the "creation of Israel" which is also known as the Nakba (“the catastrophe” aka the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians).
The author also has had controversies of plagiarism, regarding a game designer's work which she used it in her book and never credited.
The creators of this challenge are in solidarity with all people suffering from genocide, colonialism, and oppression, which means we advocate for a free Palestine. We hope you’ll consider leaving behind authors and books that support genocide.
If you are open to learn more about Palestine, Haymarket and Verso have provided a curated reading lists (including free ebooks), and more resources here.
You can also find more resources and action items (for folks in the U.S.) on U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights’ website.
If you find others books in the Storygraph challenge that, like these two books, do not fit the prompts and/or have harmful topics, please reach out to let us know and we’ll look into them. You can do this by emailing thediversebaseline@gmail.com.
Make sure you also check out our previous post to see a quick recap of authors that don’t fit the prompts.
Check out the official website for the links to the Storygraph challenge, Goodreads group and graphics for instagram.
About the creators:
Brittany is a bookish content creator from the San Francisco Bay Area. She can be found on instagram and tiktok.
Margherita is a reader and indie author from Italy. Xe can be found on instagram, tiktok and medium.