Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes?

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confessionsofabooklover (25 July 2015). "Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne – review". The Guardian . Retrieved 8 May 2018. Ofcourse it’s one thing to say you want to get better and another to actually actively try to get better. Olive mostly just wants to do things on her terms and when your brain, who is just so mean to you sometimes, calls the shots and tells you lies, it’s just hard to look at others for help. This book hit a little too close to home for me every time Olive would have her manic episodes or the Numb Days. The way she would describe how she saw things and felt things and just understood the world around her, it was all just something I could identify with. This book was just really important to me for so many reasons that I don’t have the fancy vocabulary to explain properly. The Kindness virus idea was so lovely and Sophie’s speech to Olive at the end had me crying. The depictions of the various mental illnesses was well done, I was able to identify Olive's illness almost immediately without being explicitly told what it was. I think it's good for people who don't have these issues to be exposed to them, as it helps fight mental health stigma which is still a huge problem in society. Please be kinder to yourself. Life is hard enough, and recovery is hard enough, without you beating yourself up for being you" The Nottinghill Carnival takes central stage in this story about families, memories and the power of dance and festivals. Author Yaba Badoe tells...

Floored, novel by Eleanor Wood, Holly Bourne, Lisa Williamson, Melinda Salisbury, Non Pratt, Sara Barnard, and Tanya Byrne (2018) The part with the kindness virus was pretty ridiculous to me, to be honest. I thought the idea itself was not well thought out by itself, plus I doubt people in that situation are so easily convinced to take time from their free therapy that normally is incredibly expensive and that a bunch of teens wouldn't use social media for that kind of project, which would have a far wider reach. Bestselling author Alexandra Christo, author of TikTok sensation To Kill a Kingdom, introduces her new book, The Night Hunt (Hot Key Books), a dark... Yep, and call us crazy when we don't. And give us therapy and meds and freaking alpacas until we can be moulded into something at can at least pretend it divides nicely into the world."' (p223-224)* YA Book Prize for teen fiction winner announced". Future News - Media Planner. 3 May 2018 . Retrieved 8 May 2018.I do appreciate the concept really but I don't know, it's just hardly believable. Just because a group of teens decided to spread thousands of motivational messages from a rooftop onto the carnival doesn't mean it will compel people to be instantly kind and start hugging each other and that actually happened at the end of the story. Gah! Gabriella, unbothered by his anger, steps closer to him. "But WHY did you start abusing substances, Jamie?" I enjoyed reading it though, and I think this is a good book if you don't know much about mental illnesses and what it's like to have them. Holly Bourne writes with insight, compassion, and not a hint of condescension to her young readership. As the story progresses, we see the group begin to work together and, what I enjoyed most, to shed their defensive cynicism. Their ultimate plan will intrigue you, involving papercraft, the Notting Hill Carnival, and an unexpected adaptation of the term ‘going viral.’

She appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2018, alongside author Cat Clarke, discussing her book Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes?, mental health, and resolve. [12] The event was chaired by author Alex Nye. [13]Anyway, then I was there [in the greenhouse] and the storm was there and I realized just how not normal it was that I'd run out into the garden. And my head felt like it was burning and screaming and full of insects that were exploding one by one behind my eyes..." Another tear bubbles up and jumps down my cheek. "And I realized that I'm not very well again," I gasp, needing more air. "And I'm not sure I can go through that again."' (p17)* I reeeally hated Jamie. First because he is such a stereotype, and because I don't like the band-cool-guy-type anyway. Also because of the scene where he jokes that he is a sex addict and makes a lot of comments about it to Hannah; the entire scene comes of as a pretty bad crossing of boundaries and harrassment, and it's just taken as a joke, which I think is not okay. If you are a reader who is unfamiliar about mental illness, you’d probably read this book and react like ‘this is intense and all over the place, what is this?’ and my honest answer to that is, it’s reality. This is such a realistic and honest representation of bipolar, I’m actually struggling to express how brilliantly realistic this book is. I want to be clear, that I didn't hate this book! Despite my issues, I think the idea behind it was a good one and the overall message of the book is a positive thing. The author doesn’t take any precaution in this book and throws us right into the main character’s mind, an experience that was raw, emotional and intense. As we slowly get to know her and her issues, as we see her slowly but certainly unravelling, in both positives and negative ways, it’s hard to look away.