[Image: Graphic for ChronicBabe 101 review. A cartoon image of the book, which is bright orange and pink with the title in a hand-drawn banner with and surrounded by doodles; pink, sparkly cat-eye glasses.]
Review: ChronicBabe 101
Hello, loves! Editor Diane here, and I’m super stoked to bring you this review of Jenni Grover’s new book, ChronicBabe 101!
Good for: spoonies who just need help on the basics of getting by with a chronic illness; caregivers and allies who want to support a spoonie reading this book; libraries; offices of medical providers
Design: 5/5
★★★★★
Organization: 4/5
★★★★
Clarity: 5/5
★★★★★
Accessibility: 3.5/5 (to both disabled folks & marginalized groups)
★★★½
Overall: 4/5
★★★★
Look, I adore this book. The resources in it so closely echo what I personally want all spoonies to have in their arsenal. I have some criticisms and concerns about accessibility for certain marginalized groups---but in general, I call this one a winner and highly recommend it.
Learn more about the book and hear my thoughts below the cut!
Disclosure: I have been given this product for review. Although the product was a gift, all opinions in this review remain my own and I was in no way influenced by the author (in fact, I asked for this one!)
You will probably not be surprised to hear that I love Jenni, creator of ChronicBabe.com---we post a bunch of her resources on the blog.
Jenni is just bursting with energy and goodwill, which naturally shows through in her writing; ChronicBabe 101 is no different. It invites the reader to join the ranks of Chronic Babes: strong, independent folks who refuse to give up or lie down (metaphorically, at least 😉).
As you may or may not know, I wrote a 101-style zine, Chronically Badass: A Guide For The Young and Chronically Ill, which contained a bunch of advice I wanted to give to new spoonies after having become sick myself. ChronicBabe 101 does the same, distilling all the advice Jenni wants to give folks---but it does so in much greater detail and honestly makes Chronically Badass look like the Cliff’s Notes!
The book covers the following topics:
Acceptance
Breaking bad habits and forming good one
Stopping negative thinking
Establishing and maintaining boundaries
Loving your body
Building a support team
Strengthening relationships
Education and career success
Communication
Getting organized
I really can’t think of better subject matter to include in a book like this; Jenni covers all the important things that we just don’t learn in school or society, and she makes the information friendly and personal to boot. I found myself nodding along as I read, and especially enjoyed her attention to emotional intelligence.
The book reads as a class, including “pop quizzes” and “homework assignments,” which invite you to reflect and act. There’s a “pep squad” section, too, with interviews with both spoonies and folks who work with them.
Finally, there are small asides with caregiver stories and perspectives. These asides were interesting reads and useful to both spoonies and their supporters, but I had a little trouble seeing how they connected to the chapter’s topic sometimes. I also felt like they needed to go a little deeper in order to match the actionable advice in the rest of the book.
My only serious criticism is about the book’s accessibility---not in the disability sense, but in terms of the audience reached or, in this case, left out.
While Jenni certainly invites folks of any genders to be Chronic Babes, her writing often assumes a femme readership and uses asides like “girl” when speaking to the reader. This could really put off readers who aren’t female-identified (or even be triggering to folks with gender dysphoria), which bums me out since she could have made some tweaks to avoid this.
There are also a couple instances where more attention could have been paid to making a diverse readership comfortable. In reading the book I found a few discussions of weight loss that lacked awareness of fatphobia, and a section on sex that kind of erased folks on the asexual spectrum. As with the gender issue, these would be really easy to work around, so I was disappointed to see them show up.
Does that mean I dislike the book? Heck no! The reason I’m critical of its accessibility is because I want it to be accessible to everyone. This book is so, so important to our community, but as it is, I have to recommend it with content warnings.
So: if none of these content warnings apply to you, then I encourage you to read this fabulous book! Head on over to the ChronicBabe 101 website for buying options.
Thanks again, Jenni, for your wonderful book and your valuable contribution to spooniekind! 💝
Jenni & Kevin talk about the value of building great relationships with pharmacists.
This fantastic interview comes from ChronicBabe101, a new book from ChronicBabe that we reviewed a little while ago. While it’s an audio interview, there’s a full transcription below it for folks using screenreaders or who prefer to read.
This discussion covers what pharmacists can do for you (did you know they can do a medication therapy management, or MTM, consultation?), and how to build a good relationship with them. Definitely a recommended read if you’re juggling a lot of medications!
