Boy Bullied For Love Of Books Gets 220,000 Instagram Followers

A boy who was bullied after setting up an Instagram account dedicated to his love of books has amassed more than 220,000 followers.

Instagram/cals_book_account

Callum Manning, from South Shields, UK, set up cals_book_account as a place where he could share book reviews and discuss his favourite novels.

However, classmates subsequently insulted the 13-year-old in a group chat, leaving him 'devastated'.

Callum told PA Media: "I don't tend to cry that often, but I think that was the first time in a while I've actually cried."

Disgusted by the behaviour of the students, Callum's older sister Ellis Landreth called them out on Twitter.

The 24-year-old had hoped the tweet may prompt 20 or 30 of her mates to like a few of his posts or give him a follow, however the tweet blew up, receiving more than 180,000 likes.

Now, Callum's Instagram account has 228,000 followers from all over the world.

Callum said: "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."

As well as amassing a huge following, Callum has been inundated with offers of books for him to review. Caroline Kepnes, author of You, has even been in touch.

Callum said: "She's one of my favourite authors - she texted us, which was really cool. Obviously I'm a really big fan so I was kind of nervous but that was really cool."

Callum's mum, Carla Landreth, said the newfound fame of her son's book account has had a transformative effect on him - and having to invest in a few new bookcases is a small price to pay.

She 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.

"On Friday night he was in tears. 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.

"I don't know where we're going to put all these books. I think we're going have to go to IKEA and get some bookcases."

Topics: Viral, Books, Awesome, Inspirational, Interesting, Community

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey