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Boy Bullied For Reading Books Recieves Books & Support From Authors Around The World

bySwati Dubey
4th March 2020
2 minute read

Recently, the video of a 9-year-old Australian boy crying inconsolably for being bullied by classmates made headlines. Following this, another case of bullying where juniors were forced to eat human faeces by seniors in an Indonesian high school came to light. Despite several awareness programs, the cases of bullying come up time and again. This time, it’s from the UK.

Callum Manning, a 13-year-old high school student is fond of reading. He shares his thoughts and book reviews on his Instagram account. But instead of appreciation, he was allegedly trolled and constantly bullied by his classmates. They called him ‘sad weirdo’ for being an avid reader, reports IE.

Recently, he was also added to a group chat by his classmates who humiliated him further for being a ‘bookworm’.

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It's The snowman from monsters Inc

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His elder sister Ellis shared the screenshot of the trolling and called out the bullies on social media. Her post soon went viral and garnered support from people and authors all over the world.

https://twitter.com/EllisLandreth1/status/1233700851925082113?s=20

Some popular authors like Neil Gaiman and Matt Haig also came forward to lend their support to Callum.

“I think the love from all around the world has probably let him know he isn’t alone. But all the interesting people I know were once considered weird kids with books. Including me,” Neil wrote in the comments. In fact, author Matt Haig also sent him many signed copies of his books.

Here are the messages sent by authors and people around the world to Callum:

“All I was expecting was a few of my followers to show him some encouragement and support, and that he wasn’t ‘weird’ or ‘sad’ for preferring to read,” Callum’s sister Ellis told CNN. Apart from support, Callum also gained thousands of followers on Instagram following the incident. Ellis said that Callum’s bullies were jealous looking all the limelight he was getting.

Carla Landreth, Callum’s mother shared that he was ‘devastated’ by the bullying but the positive comments are making him feel good. “It has made him feel so good, and sends out a really strong, anti-bullying message – a case of who’s getting the last laugh now,” she told BBC.

It’s good to see how social media is proving helpful in lifting the spirits of kids who have been bullied. Keep up the good work!

Cover Image Source: Left, Right

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