Published 15:02 IST, March 4th 2020
'Book lover stands out': Bullied 13-year-old gets worldwide support
A 13-year-old book lover was knocked down because of his innocent love for books but was in no time uplifted and motivated thanks to worldwide support.
A 13 year old bibliophile was left shattered and distressed after being a victim of bullying and persecution for a simple reason - his intense love for books. The disheartening story of the teenager's dismay was brought forth by his elder sister that unknowingly brought about a drastic positive change in her brother's life.
Book reviewing leads to bullying
Callum Manning from South Shields, Tyne and Wear, became subject to bullying and mockery because of his online book reviews on his instagram page, 'Cals Book Account' where he gave out his suggestions and reviews on books including Jane Austen, George Orwell, Mary Shelley, Harry Potter and Twilight novels.
Tragically, Callum's classmates from his new school cunningly added him to a Whatsapp group chat where he was mocked and bullied over his online book reviews. The kids went on to the extent of labelling Callum as a 'creep'.
In an attempt to bring in support and positivity in Callum's life was his elder sister, Ellis Landreth, who tweeted her brother's state with a photo of his book account.
A devastated Callum said: "I don't tend to cry that often but I think that was the first time in a while I've actually cried." On his sister's viral tweet, Callum added: "People saw it and people just thought 'it's not right' because it isn't. Then I started getting loads of comments from everyone showing their support. "I just think it's really nice that there's still people in the world who are nice."
Ellis' tweet however, helped Callum's account gather hundreds of thousands of new followers including authors, publishers and book shops offering him not only support but also books for free to review on his account.
Ellis' tweet which also contained an example of Callum's review of the book 'You' by Caroline Kepnes, which he had depicted as better than the TV series and a good read for people preferring scary stories, was spotted by the author herself who contacted Callum to which he happily explained: "She's one of my favourite authors - she texted us, which was really cool." He also added: "Obviously I'm a really big fan so I was kind of nervous but that was really cool."
Where Callum initially obtained around 150,000 followers on instagram in just a few hours, his instagram follower count now stands over 340,000 followers. Callum was also showered with love, support and free signed books from prominent authors like Neil Gaiman, Malorie Blackman, Matt Haig, David Nicholls, Caroline Kepnes and several others.
Cara Landreth, Callum's mother revealed his childhood love for reading, including books about crime and punishment, books a 13 year old is not expected to read and adore. Cara, excitedly, also revealed that the count in Callum's book possession is on a climb as free books have been continuing to drop in from all around the country, for which, they might as well require to purchase new bookcases from Ikea as the storage space stands limited.
"On Friday night he was in tears," Cara complained. "He was absolutely devastated that people could be so cruel. "And since this has been happening, his confidence has just soared. He's a lovely kid, he's a very loving kid, and he's just saying, 'I can't believe these people want to follow me on Instagram and want to send me stuff'. "We're just so shocked. It's been absolutely brilliant. He's just over the moon."
Besides all the support and signed books from authors and book stores, people all around the world have also taken to Twitter to shower Callum with love and support, giving out a big slap to bullying.
Updated 15:02 IST, March 4th 2020