Callum Manning's Instagram book blog has garnered over 2 lakh followers in two days.
A 13-year-old boy bullied for his book reviews on Instagram has received the support of bestselling authors like Neil Gaiman, Caroline Kepnes and Matt Haig, among others. Callum Manning, from South Shields, UK, created an Instagram blog last week to review some of the books he had read, reports The Guardian. He was left "devastated" after students at his new school mocked it.
"I don't tend to cry that often but I think that was the first time in a while I've actually cried," Callum said.
His book blog began to receive international attention after his sister Ellis Landreth, 24, tweeted on Saturday about the bullying he faced. According to her tweet, Callum was added to a group chat where his book reviews were mocked.
Daily Mail reports that Ellis was hoping "20 or 30 of my friends would like a few of his posts or follow him or give him some words of encouragement." Instead, her tweet went massively viral online, catching the attention of top authors, journalists, and thousands of complete strangers - making an Internet star out of Callum.
Since being shared online, her tweet has been inundated with messages of support and offers to buy books for Callum. Within two days, the 13-year-old has seen his number of Instagram followers skyrocket to over 2 lakh. He has also received several books as gifts.
English author Neil Gaiman shared a message of support for Callum.
Novelist Matt Haig offered to send the schoolboy signed copies of his books.
New York Times bestselling author of You, Caroline Kepnes, also offered to send him books.
As did many others
"People saw it and people just thought 'it's not right' because it isn't," Callum said, according to The Guardian. "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."
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