Dozens of authors and members of the public have come forward to show their support for a teenager who was bullied for his love of reading.
Callum Manning, a 13-year-old from South Shields, has an
Instagram page called Cal’s Book Account where he posts book recommendations. His classmates from his new school found out about it and created a
WhatsApp group to bully the teen, leaving him in tears.
When his sister Ellis Landreth found out and wrote about it on
Twitter, things started to turn around.Can’t believe how awful kids are. My little brothers made an Instagram reviewing and talking about books and kids in his new school have seen it and have created a group chat calling him a creep slagging him off about it and added him to it so he could see 🥺 pic.twitter.com/wuuj2XlO34— Ellis (@EllisLandreth1) February 29, 2020Ellis posted a picture of Callum’s Instagram account and wrote: “Can’t believe how awful kids are. My little brother [has] made an Instagram reviewing and talking about books and kids in his new school have seen it and have created a group chat calling him a creep, slagging him off about it and added him to it so he could see.”
Her tweet has since gained more than 180,000 likes and Callum’s Instagram account now has more than 225,000 followers – plus support from high profile authors. View this post on InstagramA post shared by cal :-) 📚📚 (@cals_book_account) on Mar 1, 2020 at 5:27am PSTMatt Haig urged his followers to follow Callum’s account on Instagram. The tweet gained more than 2.2k likes and led to a surge of support for the teen. The author later tweeted to offer Callum some free books to add to his collection. I am happy to send him any of my books signed and for free if he wants them. Dm if interested.— Matt Haig (@matthaig1) March 1, 2020Dozens of others authors also pledged to follow Callum’s account or send him books, including David Nicholls, Caroline Kepnes, Malorie Blackman and Giles Paley-Phillips.Hi Ellis, not on Insta but would be delighted to send Cal a book (if he's not too overwhelmed)— David Nicholls (@DavidNWriter) March 1, 2020It is devastating and I would very much like to send Cal some books.— Caroline Kepnes (@CarolineKepnes) March 1, 2020Followed!— Malorie Blackman (@malorieblackman) March 1, 2020Hey, I'll defo send a book to Cal, my DMs are open, no one should be abused in this way for doing the thing they love #BeKindAlways— Giles Paley-Phillips (@eliistender10) March 1, 2020Author Christopher Golden offered to donate books to Cal’s school library in his name.I’d love to send Cal some books. @EllisLandreth1 and if his school has a library I’d also like to donate some books to the school in his name.— Christopher Golden (@ChristophGolden) March 1, 2020Members of the public have also made kind offers. Digital marketing consultant Rob Knowles offered to send Cal a signed first edition of Origin by Dan Brown. I have a signed first edition of Origin by @AuthorDanBrown. If you want to DM me a mailing address I’d be very happy to send it to Cal. Keep on reading! 🙇 pic.twitter.com/nIBb53d6Tf— Rob Knowles (@robmknowles) March 2, 2020Others have offered to send Cal books or gift cards so he can grow his collection and continue reviewing.I've followed him and dropped him a little message but I'd love to buy him a book or send him over an amazon gift card - I'm sure he has a lot of books on the way but please DM me if there's any book he doesn't have 😊— bef ydw i (@beffybadbelly) March 1, 2020As a mum of a six-year-old, this makes me so mad. Cal sounds awesome. He also has great taste in books! I'd be happy to send some if you have an address. ❤️— 💀C. J. Tudor 💀 (@cjtudor) March 1, 2020Over on Instagram, Callum’s posts have inspired some heartfelt messages about the power of reading.
One Instagram follower, @bookishbranton, wrote: “Reading is one of the most magical things on earth. To be able to live different lives, be everything at once, feel everything, understand different people, different circumstances, and different loves. It’s a love some don’t understand but ignore the hate because you’re amazing, and to those who hate I say this; find the right book for you and you will never look down upon [someone] who loves to do so.”
Another follower, @savemethecrumbs, said Callum inspired them to start reading. “Never stop reading Cal. For as long as you read and share your thoughts I will follow,” they wrote. “And guess what, you’ve inspired me to pick up a book! I haven’t read one in over three months and it’s high time I get back to reading. Thanks for the encouragement my friend.”Related... Your Child Is Having Their First Sleepover. Here’s How To Boss It People have also offered to chat to Callum about books, as well as sharing their own stories to give him motivation for the future. I've given him a follow. I'm a copywriter and love books, so if he ever wants to talk about books with me I'd be happy to chat to him and give him recommendations 🤗— Rachel (@rgi0c) February 29, 2020Hi Ellis and Cal! I’ve just followed your Instagram. When I was your age, a neighbour made fun of me because she saw I read a lot instead of hanging out on the street with other teens. A few years later I had a PhD and earn my living talking about books. So you keep being you. X— Claire Nally Ⓥ (@tinyhippo1979) March 2, 2020Action Jackson, a motivational speaker who goes into schools to promote happiness, sent Callum a video, saying: “Great people who are doing great things need haters, because haters fuel us to do more of what we do.
“I’m a big fan of what you’re doing because I believe that readers become leaders.”Tell your brother congratulations on having haters 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 pic.twitter.com/yKRurEUTPa— 🇬🇧UK Ambassador for Happiness 🙂 (@Actionjackson) March 1, 2020Callum’s mum, Carla Landreth, told PA Media the support over the weekend has made a huge difference,
“On Friday night he was in tears,” she said. “He was absolutely devastated that people could be so cruel. And since this has been happening, his confidence has 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.”READ MORE: How Kindness Could Prevent Loneliness – But Not In The Way You’d Expect This Teen’s Teacher Loved To Share Wise Words With Pupils. So He Created A Calendar In His Memory Michael Chakraverty: ‘It's Isolating If You Can't Voice Who You Are'