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Boy, 13, bullied for creating Instagram page to review books now has 250,000 followers: 'He's over the Moon'

'He was added to a group chat where his schoolmates insulted him because of his passion for reading'
UPDATED MAR 19, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

A 13-year-old boy, who was bullied for his love of books, gained 250,000 followers on Instagram.

Callum Manning, from South Shields, started an Instagram page dedicated to reviewing the books that he read with the aim of sharing the same with his peers and maybe even get a few words of encouragement. But what eventually ended up happening was him being added to a group chat where he was insulted because of his passion for reading. 

The actions of his classmates left him "devastated." "I don’t tend to cry that often but I think that was the first time in a while I’ve actually cried," Manning said, Metro reported

His sister, Ellis Landreth, eventually came to his rescue, when she went public with the ordeal that Manning had to face. "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," she wrote on Twitter. 

The response was overwhelmingly positive as Manning had amassed thousands of new followers within a few hours of his sister tweeting out to the world. 

"People saw it and people just thought ‘it’s not right’ because it isn’t," Manning said. "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."

Soon Manning had over 250,000 followers on his social media page, including shops, authors, publishers and members of the public who offered to send him a lot of books to read and review. His mother, Carla Landreth, said that soon they will have to buy new bookshelves from Ikea to accommodate all the books that people had been sending him. 

Some of his followers were surprised to see the teenager review classics from authors like Jane Austen, George Orwell, and Mary Shelley besides kid's favorites like the 'Harry Potter' series and the 'Twilight' sagas. 

"He’s a very, very clever kid," Carla said. "He’s been reading since he was really young but he reads like 'Crime And Punishment' and stuff that probably not your average 13-year-old would be interested in reading. He reads everything and anything."

She hoped that her son's story would be a lesson to all to never tolerate bullying. 

"On Friday night he was in tears," she said. "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."

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